Pereira made it clear that he was not happy with what
transpired in the
UFC White House co-main event.
“Poatan” came up short in his bid to become a three-division
champion when he suffered a second-round technical knockout loss to
Ciryl
Gane on June 14 in Washington, D.C. After the event, Pereira
expressed his frustration that veteran official Herb Dean
failed to acknowledge that illegal strikes that Gane landed to the
back of the Brazilian’s head during the finishing sequence.
White discussed the situation during the
UFC Fight Night 279 post-fight press conference on Saturday.
While the UFC CEO didn’t necessarily fault Dean, he recognized
Pereira’s anger as legitimate.
“If you watch the fight it’s undeniable that he got hit with some
strikes to the back of the head, but in the middle of the action,
when it’s going on and guys are rolling around trying to get out of
it,” White said (transcription via MMAjunkie.com) “Sometimes the fouls happen.
Maybe Dean should’ve said, ‘Watch the back of the head’ or warned
him or something like that. But I don’t know. I can tell you this:
Alex
Pereira is not a whiner. And Alex
Pereira doesn’t complain about things or make excuses after
fights. So I have to believe that he believed that. That he truly
believed that was true.”
Not a Whiner
It’s currently unclear if Pereira and his team will attempt to
appeal the result. The Brazilian has stated that he plans to remain
in the heavyweight division going forward.
“That’s something [an appeal] they’ll have to work out with the
commission. Not my area,” White said. “Like I said: Alex Pereira is
not a whiner. The guy doesn’t ever complain about anything. So you
have to believe if the’s that serious about it, that he’s upset
about and believes it to be true.”