Abstract: Study of relativistic nuclear collisions might hint on possibility to create a nuclear matter, which isdifferent from ordinary. The PHENIX experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider investigates nuclear matter through the programmatic study of collisions of different particle species at different energies. By studying Au+Au, d+Au and p+p collisions at 200 GeV one can understand, how nuclear matter can change. phi meson serves as an effective probe to characterize nuclear collisions. Measurements of production rates of the phi meson in p+p collisions are essential, since p+p collisions serve as a common reference to all other collisions. First measurements of the production rates of the phi meson in p+p collisions at 200 GeV are presented. Comparison of the phi meson production in p+p collisions with that in Au+Au and d+Au collisions indicates that Au+Au and d+Au collisions create a matter, which is different from the ordinary nuclear matter and cannot be described by conventional models.