Alex Pereira Calls Out Ref in Video, Shows Photos After Ciryl Gane KO Loss at UFC White House Event

UFC star Alex Pereira isn't happy with how his loss to Ciryl Gane played out at Sunday's Freedom 250 event at the White House.

Pereira released a video calling out referee Herb Dean for allowing Gane to hit him in the back of his head multiple times before finishing him in the second round to win the interim heavyweight championship. He also showed photos of the damage he sustained in the closing moments of the fight.

"The ref was right there watching. The guy hits me and I fall. He starts throwing punches, the guy sees it's an illegal hit. But I think he's thinking, 'How am I gonna stop this fight, man?' Bro, it's against the rules! You won't be wrong if you stop it, that's in the rulebook."

Gane dropped Pereira with a jab early in the second round and followed up with a long series of unanswered elbows and punching combinations as Pereira tried to grapple. The former middleweight and light heavyweight champion managed to work his way back to his feet, but Gane landed another crushing blow that sent him backward along the fence, forcing Dean to step in and stop the fight.

Immediately after the stoppage, some fans and pundits took to social media to call out the blows to the back of Pereira's head.

Pereira added in his video that he had warned Dean to be on the lookout for illegal blows. He was fighting in the heavyweight division for the first time in his UFC career, and Gane's length and kickboxing background made him an unfavorable matchup.

Still, Pereira maintained that he would've been able to recover from initially being dropped if not for the subsequent shots to the back of his head. He blamed both Gane and Dean for the unnecessary damage he sustained from the potentially dangerous blows.

"That can't happen, man. This ref, in my eyes, has no moral standing," Pereira said.