Alex Pereira has told anybody who will listen that he was fouled repeatedly in his fight against Ciryl Gane at UFC White House after absorbing several illegal shots to the back of the head.
The frantic exchange happened after Gane clipped Pereira with a jab on the feet that led to a scramble on the ground with the French heavyweight unloading a barrage of punches and elbows in succession. Pereira later complained many of the shots landed to the back of his head, which is illegal, and he blasted referee Herb Dean for not calling out the fouls or punishing Gane for the rules infraction.
A few seconds after the punches on the ground, Gane hammered Pereira with several more stiff shots on the feet to force a second-round stoppage and claim a vacant interim heavyweight championship. Speaking after the recent UFC Vegas 119 event, UFC CEO Dana White responded to Pereira’s complaints after he missed out on his chance to become the first ever three-division champion in company history.
“I think every time everybody fights, the referee should be watching everything that happens,” White told reporters. “I say it all the time and I’ll say it again, no refereeing anywhere is perfect. It could be an NBA game, an NFL game, definitely some fights, it’s never going to be perfect.
“I also think that if you watch the fights, it’s undeniable [Pereira] got hit with some strikes to the back of the head but in the middle of the action when guys are rolling around, trying to get out of it, sometimes some fouls happen. Maybe [Herb] Dean should have said ‘hey, watch the back of the head’ or warned him or something like that.”
As angry as he was towards Gane, the former two-division UFC champion really took aim at Dean for not doing more as the referee overseeing the fight.
In fact, Pereira went as far as calling for Dean to retire from the sport, although the veteran referee eventually released a video of his own explaining why he never paused the action or admonished Gane for throwing and landing illegal blows.
White didn’t trash Dean or the job he did as referee, but he doesn’t think Pereira is the kind of fighter to cry sour grapes after a loss unless he has a legitimate reason to complain.
“I can tell you this: Alex Pereira is not a whiner,” White said. “Alex Pereira doesn’t complain about things or make excuses after fights. I have to believe that he believed that. That he truly believed that was true.”
Pereira and his team have contemplated filing an appeal over the result, but the Brazilian has acknowledged it’s almost impossible to get something like that overturned. More than anything, Pereira has gone on the offensive with a campaign against Dean as a referee and Gane using illegal blows to affect the outcome of the fight.
White doubled down that the commission overseeing the event has final say in those matters, but still stands by Pereira when it comes to his feeling that he got the raw end of the deal with that knockout loss.
“That’s something that they’ll have to work out with the commission. Not my area,” White said. “Listen like I said, here’s what I can tell you that Alex Pereira is not a whiner. That guy doesn’t ever complain about anything so you have to believe if he’s that serious about it, he’s upset about it and he believes it to be true.”
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