Alex Pereira and his coach, Plinio Cruz, are continuing their verbal onslaught on Herb Dean following the UFC Freedom 250 dispute.
‘Poatan’ was one win away from being the only fighter in UFC history to capture gold in three separate weight classes. Knocking out Israel Adesanya and Jiri Prochazka to capture both the middleweight and light heavyweight titles, Ciryl Gane stood in the way of greatness. Unfortunately for the Brazilian, it wasn’t to be, but the loss didn’t come without controversy. After being dropped, Pereira was subject to multiple illegal shots to the back of his head, and the referee has come under fire for allowing those strikes to go unpunished.
This wouldn’t be the first time Herb Dean has been at fault for costly mistakes inside the octagon, but Alex Pereira isn’t prepared to make peace with the official. Pereira believes that without the barrage of illegal strikes, he would have been able to recover as he has done several times before in his fighting career.
Pereira claimed he would push for Herb Dean never to referee one of his future fights. The former UFC champion also shared what punishment should be in place for Dean’s alleged sloppy officiating.
“Something’s got to be done,” Pereira said. “But one thing I’ll tell you, I think his time is up. I think he already did enough, and just like on a regular 9-to-5, on a regular business, he’s been there for too long already, and now he’s starting to mess up. Maybe he shouldn’t be there anymore. Something’s got to be done so people don’t end up getting hurt because of him.”
“Let’s say that there was a punishment. The guy goes over there, Herb stops that fight [and] takes a point or whatever. The guy’s going to complain but he should say, ‘You knew you’re not supposed to do this and you still done it.’ But now when nothing is done, the guy’s going to go, ‘You know what, I’m just gonna do what I’m gonna do because he’s not going to stop this fight. So then, I’ll do whatever it takes to become a champion.'”
However, Herb Dean contested Pereira’s claims in a video released on social media. Dean insisted each shot from Ciryl Gane was legal, and there were no grounds for complaints.
“All respect to both fighters, I’m talking about Gane and Pereira; amazing fight,” Dean said. “The rule we’re talking about is the back of the head, and that’s confusing. It’s different from boxing. The way we enforce this rule is we focus on the nape of the neck. That’s really what the rule should be called.”
Herb Dean’s explanation, which revealed that a small section at the back of the head is off-limits rather than the entire back of the head, didn’t go down well with Alex Pereira.
“That doesn’t really make sense,” Pereira said in response to Herb Dean. “He kind of changed the line for his favor, even when he made those little lines. So, it’s the same as saying, ‘I’m going to put a little coin and say this is the area that cannot be hit.’ Do you know the size of somebody’s hand to be hit on the back of the head?”
Pereira’s coach, Cruz, considers Dean’s justification video to be incriminating, with too many inconsistencies.
The pair later went over a conversation they had with Herb Dean during the pre-fight rules meeting. Cruz was used to translate a specific warning to the referee about Ciryl Gane’s history of unlawful tactics inside the cage, which was seemingly ignored once the fight unfolded.
Alex Pereira then turned his attention to Gane, sharing his opinion on the Frenchman’s style.
“I’m not going to say [he ‘s a dirty fighter],” Pereira continued. “It’s just like I said before, I think it’s just his survival instinct. He gets a little desperate. In his mind, he’s desperate, and he just does these kinds of things. But he knows what he’s doing.”