Alex Pereira calls out UFC while revealing gruesome injuries after White House card defeat

UFC star Alex Pereira has issued a public complaint following his defeat to Ciryl Gane, while also showing the extent of the injuries he suffered.

Pereira attempted to become the first fighter to win belts in three different divisions when he challenged Gane for the interim heavyweight title at UFC Freedom 250, but the Brazilian ultimately fell short as his French opponent delivered a brutal second-round knockout.

While Gane has since been called out by UFC heavyweight champion and former opponent Tom Aspinall, with the Brit teasing a September fight in Paris, Pereira remains unhappy with the refereeing of the White House card two days after the event.

The Brazilian took to social media, showing off several lumps on the back of his head, which he claims were caused by Gane striking him on the back of the skull.

Alex Pereira shows off the marks on the back of his head after his fight with Ciryl Gane pic.twitter.com/IOOKaiYPty

— Spinnin Backfist (@SpinninBackfist) June 16, 2026

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Accompanying four photographs of the swelling on his head, Pereira wrote: "This will only change when the fighters fight to remove the referee who makes these kinds of mistakes. Let's prevent this from happening to you! We have the strength to do it. I guarantee it!"

Veteran referee Herb Dean officiated the contest.

According to official UFC rules, "strikes to the spine or the back of the head" constitute a foul, which may result in a penalty, with enforcement of the rules at the referee's discretion.

Alex Pereira breaks silence after Ciryl Gane defeat

Meanwhile, Pereira elaborated on his stance on his YouTube channel, claiming he warned referee Dean about Gane's supposed illegal shots.

“If you watch the footage, man, multiple shots there, multiple elbows,” Pereira said in Portuguese.

“Okay, sure, the jab? [Thumbs up] Okay. But given everything that happened, I was getting up and it became difficult to recover.

“But I believe that if it wasn’t for those shots, I wouldn’t have been in that situation and could have possibly recovered. Maybe not, they were very hard shots, illegal shots, but it is what it is. It’s very difficult to prepare, to dedicate yourself, to get there.

“There’s a guy whose only job is to do that. I told him beforehand. I think it’s hard to put myself in the referee’s shoes. My opponent is there, he starts striking, and the ref is seeing that they are illegal shots. But he thinks like this: ‘How am I going to stop this fight?’

“It’s illegal! It’s in the rules. You’re not going to be wrong if you stop it; it’s in the rules. You stop it. If people ask, ‘Why did you stop it?’, say, ‘Look at the video.’ In that scenario, people would give him credit as a man.

“But now, he is not a man. He shouldn’t have been refereeing that fight, to be honest. A guy like that should be punished. That’s how it is. It’s a very serious job, it’s a very serious event. What happened? The referee should have faced legal consequences for that.”

Gane previously came under fire following his October 2025 fight with Aspinall after an eye poke caused the fight to be ruled a no contest.

Aspinall subsequently underwent eye surgery and has not fought since.