UFC Freedom 250’s co-main event was booked to progress the heavyweight division with an intriguing interim title bout between Alex Pereira and Ciryl Gane. Instead, more controversy has continued to follow the seemingly cursed heaviest division in MMA.
Pereira would have made history with a win on Sunday at the White House by becoming the promotion’s first-ever three-weight champion. Ultimately, the former middleweight and light heavyweight titleholder had his heavyweight debut spoiled when he suffered a brutal second-round knockout loss against France’s Gane.
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Pereira reacted to the loss Tuesday in a video published to his YouTube channel, dismissing Gane’s initial jab that dropped him as a “lucky shot” and accusing Gane of foul play. In it, Pereira said the punches and elbows he sustained while rallying to survive were clearly to the back of the head, making them illegal strikes per the rules.
“Unfortunately the punch landed, that jab. It’s heavyweight, the punches are stronger. But I would say it was a lucky jab, a lucky shot. Because if you throw it closing your eyes and lowering your head, cool, the shot landed. That’s where everything started. That’s where everything started going well for him, but it was a lucky jab.”
“After, he took advantage and started landing heavier shots. … I dropped, I grabbed his legs. It was there. Throwing elbows, punches, he’s desperate. He threw a shot he didn’t even believe in, and he wanted to finish the fight in whatever way. And, well, he always does that. Multiple fights. If you look at his highlights, that’s what you’ll see all the time.
“I was being very careful about that. Finger in the eye, kick to the groin — that [sort of thing] isn’t supposed to happen, but it does [with Gane]. … But on the back of the head? A punch to the back of the head? You’re right there [referee]. You have to be seeing it, but that was the opportunity of a lifetime for him. And the referee was right there to see it.”
Alex Pereira shows off back-of-the-head damage from his fight with Ciryl Gane. (Instagram, alexpoatanpereira)
(Instagram – alexpoatanpereira)
Gane has been mired in controversy since his undisputed title shot against Tom Aspinall in October. The bout ended before the second round, when Aspinall suffered multiple illegal eye-pokes that rendered him unable to continue. It was ruled a no-contest as a result, and Aspinall still remains on the mend more than eight months later. Gane’s latest win sets the two rivals up for a potential rematch whenever Aspinall is able to return.
Knowing the extent of Gane’s history, specifically with that recent fight, Pereira said he wanted to clear the air before he even fought Gane.
“The day before the fight, we had a rules meeting. I asked [my coach] Plinio [Cruz] to translate for him, and I told [the officials], ‘Look, man. Eye-poke, groin strikes, those things can happen. It’s not supposed to, but it can happen. But the guy has a long history of it. Dirty shots. Throwing punches to the back of the head. Elbows.’ I saw some videos, so I was worried. I brought that up with him ahead of time and asked him to keep an eye on it.
“If you watch the footage, multiple shots there, multiple elbows. OK, sure, the jab, but given everything that happened illegal, I was getting up. It became difficult to recover, but I believe that if it wasn’t for those shots, I [wouldn’t] be in that situation and could’ve possibly recovered. Maybe not, but they were very hard shots and illegal.”
But Gane isn’t the only one catching flak from Pereira after the fight result. Veteran referee Herb Dean is just as much to blame, believes Pereira.
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“Putting myself in the referee’s shoes, my opponent’s there and catches me, I drop, he starts striking. The ref is watching that they are illegal shots, but he thinks like this, ‘How am I going to stop this fight?’ It’s illegal, it’s in the rules. You’re not going to be wrong if you stop it. It’s in the rules; you stop it.
“If people say, ‘Why did you stop it?’ Look at the video; nobody was going to say anything about the ref. In that scenario, people give him credit as a man. But now he is not a man. He shouldn’t have been refereeing that fight. To be honest, a guy like that should be punished. That’s how it is. It’s a very serious job. It’s a very serious event. What happened, the ref should’ve faced legal consequences for that.
“A guy like that, to be honest, if I hadn’t said something to him before, that’s different. But I spoke to him before. For him to watch for that. A guy like that, his friends, he goes out, drinks his beer or seltzer water, whatever, he gets together with his friends, if he has kids, I’m certain they look at that ref and say, ‘He’s a coward.’ But they’re his friends, they won’t say that to him. But they think it because he was a coward. I warned him before, and still, that’s not a professional. He didn’t deserve to be there.”
Pereira (13-4) last lost when he dropped the UFC light heavyweight title to Magomed Ankalaev in March 2025. He rematched Ankalaev in October to reclaim the belt with a first-round knockout before vacating it to move up in weight. Similar to how that rivalry played out, Pereira said Tuesday that he’d like an instant rematch with Gane.
Despite how Sunday’s fight ended on the White House’s South Lawn, Pereira also noted that he has no regrets about pursuing UFC history and pledged to return stronger.
