Alex Pereira says he is exploring legal options and pursuing an appeal after his UFC Freedom 250 loss to Ciryl Gane, arguing that illegal strikes to the back of his head may have changed the outcome and that referee Herb Dean’s time may be up.
Pereira spoke to MMA Junkie through his coach and interpreter Plinio Cruz on Wednesday.
Are we saying these shots could’ve switched the results of the fights? It could have. It could not have. We’re not blaming it on this. But maybe with all those shots, I could’ve came back much better on the feet than when I took all those shots. The more it started sinking in my head, I saw how bad was the referee’s posture. He did not look to protect my physical integrity of that fight, which is his job.
Pereira said he had flagged Gane’s history of fouling to Dean the day before the fight at the rules meeting, making the referee’s inaction more frustrating.
Just for the record, Ciryl has a history of doing these kind of things. But we’re not saying he’s doing it because he’s a bad person or anything like that. Maybe it’s just his instincts when he’s in trouble. He gets desperate and starts doing stuff like that. But the ref is there to protect me and Ciryl. Knowing he had this kind of behavior, I did address this to the referee the day before when we had a rules meeting. This was addressed to take action.
He called directly for Dean to stop refereeing.
Herb had a record of making mistakes like that. He’s just getting a little more aggravated. I think everybody has had enough of that. Maybe his time is up. Because when you deal with things like this, it’s starting to become a life-threatening situation. Somebody can risk their lives with shots like that. 100 percent he won’t referee my fights again.
Pereira referenced boxer Prichard Colon, who suffered a brain aneurysm and paralysis due to rabbit punches in 2015, as a cautionary example for why the issue matters beyond his own case. His management company ToughMedia Corp. confirmed to MMA Junkie they are “looking at all grounds for an appeal.”