The UFC White House may be over, but the controversy from it still lingers on. And we’re not talking about Josh Hokit or anything political.
On Sunday, Ciryl Gane won an interim heavyweight title with a second-round finish of Alex Pereira in the co-main event of UFC Freedom 250, and while that should be a crowning achievement for Gane, it has quickly turned into yet another firestorm for the Frenchman.
As has become commonplace when Gane fights, fouls marred his performance, and in this instance, led to considerable backlash. Following the fight, Pereira ripped Gane and referee Herb Dean for repeated blows to the back of the head landed by Gane after he dropped “Poatan,” with other notable MMA figures piling on. And of course, this all comes on the heels of Gane’s debacle with Tom Aspinall last year, where eyepokes from Gane rendered the heavyweight champion unable to continue, leaving him sidelined to this day.
So, given the frequency of Gane’s infractions, the question put before the Roundtable is simple: Is Ciryl Gane dirty? And if so, is he the dirtiest fighter in UFC today? How about UFC history?
Martin: Ciryl Gane clearly didn’t do himself any favors after eye pokes ended his fight against Tom Aspinall, and then questions were raised again about his actions when he knocked out Alex Pereira after landing several questionable elbows that appeared to land to the back of the head. Don’t forget Junior dos Santos once filed an appeal seeking to overturn his loss to Gane after he also complained about shots to the back of the head prior to the finish in their fight as well.
That said, it’s tough to just label Gane as a dirty cheater even with the several incidents now marring his otherwise impressive resume. Truth be told, the eye pokes in the fight against Aspinall were far more egregious than the strikes to the back of the head in either the Pereira or dos Santos fights.
But it’s hard to put Gane on the Hall of Fame wall for dirtiest moves in MMA when there are far more glaring examples of cheating throughout the history of the sport.
Jon Jones was often accused of using eye pokes as a weapon during his fights. UFC 1 fighter Gerard Gordeau literally blinded an opponent by eye gouging him during a fight. Gilbert Yvel knocked out a referee during one of his fights! And perhaps the most disgusting foul in UFC history came from Igor Severino when he actually bit his opponent so hard he left teeth marks — and that foul cost him his job as the UFC immediately released him afterwards.
Let’s also not forget Dustin Poirier and Justin Gaethje accusing Michael Chandler of operating outside the rules, especially when it comes to eye pokes and other tactics used during their fights. And as my colleague Alexander K. Lee astutely noted, we can’t ever forget about Rousimar Palhares and his numerous dirty moves inside the cage.
The point being, Gane is definitely walking a fine line, and he’d better duct tape his fists closed before throwing hands with Aspinall again. But dirtiest fighter in the game? That’s a stretch.
Lee: No, and I won’t stand for this Rousimar Palhares erasure!
In his prime, Palhares (or “Paul Harris” as the real ones call him) was universally regarded as—ahem—a real piece of shit for his blatant disregard of the rules and well-being of his opponents. This was pre-Twitter; today, Palhares’ reckless antics would have made him either the most reviled name in MMA fandom or a god. Probably both.
What antics, you ask? How about when he scored a 45-second heel hook submission over Tomasz Drwal, and apparently decided the fight didn’t last long enough, so he continued to crank well after the fight was called? Got a 90-day suspension for that one.
That was just a preview of what he did to poor Mike Pierce three years later. Pierce was on a tidy four-fight win streak before having the misfortune of crossing paths with Palhares, who needed just 31 seconds to secure another heel hook, but inexplicably held on too long again, injuring Pierce’s knee and tearing an ankle ligament. The UFC had had enough of him after that (did I mention he also had a positive test for elevated testosterone?), and Palhares had to ply his unique brand of villainy elsewhere.
He landed in World Series of Fighting, winning a welterweight title, but again found himself at the center of controversy after holding on to submissions against Jon Fitch and Jake Shields.
WSOF President Ali Abdelaziz (yes, that Ali Abdelaziz) gave Palhares the boot, straight-up saying dude “has mental problems.” Couldn’t have said it better myself.
Meshew: While AK noted the historical GOAT of dirtiness when it comes to the UFC, and Damon argued that Gane is no more dirty than some of the other frequent offenders in the promotion today (shoutout to Michael Chandler, who would’ve been my choice), I’d like to argue what seems like the easiest position: yes, Ciryl Gane is the dirtiest fighter in MMA right now.
My position is simple: while other fighters in the sport have committed more egregiously awful fouls — Priscila Cachoeira straight up went full-blown eye gouge in a fight — and many fighters have been dirty before stepping into the cage with their chemical composition, no fighter in the game today has so consistently flouted the rules as Gane.
Everyone knows the big fouls from Gane against Pereira and Aspinall in his past two fights, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Some fans (h/t Combat Forever) put together a compilation of all Gane’s fouls, and the man has been a weapon his entire UFC career. In practically every fight, the referee is getting called in for either a low blow, eye poke, or back of the head shot. Part of Poatan’s frustration after White House is that this is such a known thing for Gane, and it happened anyway.
If I’m being honest, I don’t think Gane is intentionally committing all these fouls in the way that, like, Palhares was an actual menace. But he clearly doesn’t care at all about preventing them, and at some point, recklessness becomes as bad as intent. If your neighbor is driving golf balls off their porch over your house, and a few go low and take out windows, you’re not going to be fine with it because “he didn’t mean to hit your house.” These are high-level professional athletes, and it’s not that hard to not commit fouls. Many fighters don’t do it over their entire career. But Gane cannot help himself.
Like it or not, Gane’s reputation is earned, and right now, he’s the dirtiest man in the game.
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