Pereira commits to heavyweight and demands Gane rematch after White House stoppage

Alex Pereira will remain at heavyweight and is pushing for a rematch with Ciryl Gane after losing his bid for the interim UFC heavyweight title at the White House card on June 14, the Brazilian confirmed in a conversation with fellow UFC fighter Renato Moicano on Wednesday.

Immediately after the fight, Pereira had been non-committal when Joe Rogan asked whether he would drop back to light heavyweight — a division where he has reigned as champion — or stay at 265 pounds. He has since made his position clear. “100 percent [staying at] heavyweight,” Pereira said.

The former two-division champion weighed in at 251 pounds the morning of the bout, a 46.5-pound jump from eight months earlier when he knocked out Magomed Ankalaev to reclaim the light heavyweight belt. Despite being three pounds lighter than Gane on the night, Pereira pushed back against the narrative that the weight move exposed him physically.

“A lot of people talk about the weight, but I’ve always been a heavy guy,” he said. “Some people say ‘Poatan wasn’t prepared, he can’t take a punch, he got dropped by a jab.’ How can people be so stupid and only see the jab? Nobody says, ‘Damn, he took a beating and stayed in the fight.’ Ciryl Gane was already a heavyweight, already used to that weight. After that jab landed, the guy took so many shots — punches to the back of the head, illegal strikes — and managed to get back up and keep trading.”

Pereira also disputed the idea that fatigue was a factor. “I got back to the corner and listened clearly to Glover [Teixeira] and Plinio [Cruz]. I didn’t even sit on the stool. I was relaxed. I was feeling good. My strategy wasn’t to expend a lot of energy or throw a lot of strikes. It was to use the first round to make my reads and then start picking up the pace. But unfortunately, I got hit.”

He attributed the knockdown to his footwork in the moment rather than any vulnerability to the punch. “Usually when I get hit, I pull my head back, but I need to have my feet planted on the ground to do that. When you’re stepping, you can’t do it. The guy landed the jab and then took advantage of the situation.”

Pereira directed significant criticism at referee Herb Dean, accusing him of allowing illegal strikes to the back of the head to go unpunished during the finish. He said on his YouTube channel that Dean should be fired by the athletic commission, and told Moicano he will refuse to compete in any future bout if Dean is assigned as referee.

On the medical front, Pereira said he has suffered no concussion and is injury-free, and is hoping to return to action as soon as he receives medical clearance.