Pereira accuses Gane of illegal blows to head

Alex Pereira released a statement Tuesday accusing Ciryl Gane of landing illegal blows to the back of his head -- and discrediting referee Herb Dean as a referee for not preventing them. Pereira, 38, attempted to become the first fighter in UFC history to win titles in three different weight classes at UFC Freedom 250. The Brazilian fighter suffered a TKO loss in the second round of his interim heavyweight title fight after Gane dropped him with a jab and followed with a series of unanswered elbows and punches. In a video released on social media, Pereira characterized some of those shots as illegal and questioned why Dean did not intervene. "I think if it weren't for those punches, I wouldn't be in that situation," Pereira said in Portuguese. "When the jab landed, I fell and grabbed his legs. Throwing elbows and punches, the guy was desperate. He landed a punch that he couldn't even believe, and then he wanted to end the fight no matter what. The ref was there watching. ... The guy sees it's an illegal hit, but he's there thinking, 'Bro, how can I stop this fight?' "Man, it's the regulations. It's in the rulebook. You're wrong if you don't stop [the illegal strikes]. That's in the rules. What makes me more upset is that I warned him beforehand. But the guy doesn't have the guts. He's not a real man." Tom Aspinall, the UFC's undisputed heavyweight champion, also pointed to illegal strikes during a live reaction to the contest posted to YouTube. "They look a bit illegal," Aspinall said. "They look very illegal. What is going on?" Gane, of France, received some criticism for illegal elbows to the back of the head in a TKO win against Junior Dos Santos in 2020. He also was flagged for an accidental eye-poke during a title fight against Aspinall in October, which resulted in a no-contest when Aspinall was unable to continue. Aspinall has still not received medical clearance to resume training and underwent eye surgery earlier this year. Pereira has not commented on whether he will stay at heavyweight or return to the light heavyweight division where he won titles in 2023 and 2025.