Alex Pereira’s former light heavyweight foe believes his post-fight attacks against referee Herb Dean are unwarranted.
Former UFC light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira’s bid to become the promotion’s first three-division titleholder fell short at the hands of Ciryl Gane at UFC Freedom 250 last month. In their interim heavyweight title fight, Gane finished Pereira by Round 2 TKO to secure a rematch against undisputed champion Tom Aspinall.
Meanwhile, Pereira has gone on a social media rampage in the weeks following the Gane fight, claiming Gane landed several illegal blows in the finishing sequence of their bout. He’s repeatedly slandered referee Herb Dean and called for the UFC to part ways with the longtime Mixed Martial Arts official.
Pereira has threatened to walk away from MMA if Dean continues to officiate high-profile fights. After middleweight Michel Pereira’s surprising cut from the roster earlier this week, Pereira blamed Dean’s indecisiveness at UFC Baku for Michel’s split from the promotion.
One of Pereira’s biggest rivals thinks the former two-division champ’s loss to Gane was legitimate, despite several controversial moments.
Jan Blachowicz calls Alex Pereira’s loss ‘completely legitimate’ despite controversies
In a recent interview with Home of Fight, former UFC light heavyweight champion Jan Blachowicz reacted to Pereira’s post-fight rants against Dean and Gane.
“What he has to say, he’s gonna use it,” Blachowicz said of Pereira’s post-fight remarks.
“But he didn’t look good in this fight, with all respect to him because I like him, I very much like Pereira. He didn’t look good in this fight. He was heavy, slow. Ciryl was just better, even without these illegal punches.
“They happened because (Gane) felt he could finish the fight,” he continued. “Pereira was moving, so it’s hard to (land) everything correctly. I like Alex a lot, but his loss against Ciryl was completely legitimate.” (h/t Bloody Elbow)
Pereira defeated Blachowicz by split decision in his UFC light heavyweight debut at UFC 291. Later that year, Pereira defeated Jiri Prochazka for the then-vacant light heavyweight title at UFC 295.
Do you agree with Jan Blachowicz’s stance on Alex Pereira’s loss? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!
