At UFC Freedom 250, Ciryl Gane proved why he’s one of the best heavyweight MMA fighters in the world and why he has continued to receive title shots despite losses. After weeks of anticipation over whether he could handle Alex Pereira’s power, the Frenchman ended up securing the biggest victory of his career to date, becoming a two-time interim heavyweight champion. Gane’s outstanding performance impressed even one of the sport’s greatest legends, Jon Jones. 

Immediately after Ciryl Gane won a TKO victory over Alex Pereira a minute and a half into the second round, former two-division UFC champion Jon Jones, who had beaten Gane in their 2023 bout, took to social media to praise his former opponent.

“Congratulations to the new heavyweight champion Gane, you looked great out there tonight,” Jones shared on X.

Well, that’s definitely a change in reaction from Jones compared to the last time Ciryl Gane fought. After the now two-time interim heavyweight champion eye-poked Tom Aspinall at UFC 321, ‘Bones’ called out the Frenchman for his dirty tactics, having also suffered a low blow at his hands in their UFC 285 bout. But now, after Gane knocked out Pereira, the Rochester native sounded highly impressed, and the 36-year-old certainly put together a praiseworthy game plan against ‘Poatan’ to deserve it.

In the first round, Pereira got off to a strong start with his well-timed head kicks and left hooks. The former light heavyweight champion, despite the fight being his debut in the division, kept pushing Gane back. However, ‘Bon Gamin’ never looked intimidated by either those shots or the pressure. Instead, the Frenchman focused on his jab and straight right hand, using them to counter Alex Pereira whenever the Brazilian tried to close the distance. Gane quickly saw the rewards of investing in the jab as he dropped Pereira with the same punch in the second round.

The former two-division champion tried to recover, but it was too late. Gane marched forward and began landing heavy shots on Pereira, who appeared to be absorbing far too much punishment by now and seemed on wobbly legs, holding onto Gane for dear life.

Yet referee Herb Dean seemed to take longer than necessary to realize that Gane had effectively finished the fight. After the French heavyweight landed several more unanswered strikes, it finally appeared to convince Herb Dean to step in and wave off the contest, and he did it. While Alex Pereira still wanted to keep going when Dean stopped it, it was pretty evident that Gane had just beaten the two-division champion.

However, fans were still far from pleased with how Herb Dean handled the stoppage, and they left no stone unturned in calling out the veteran referee over the controversial ending.

Fans react to the referee’s late stoppage as Ciryl Gane knocks out Alex Pereira at UFC White House

One fan quickly chimed in and wrote, “That was a clear late stoppage.” After that, another user commented, “It was a late stoppage unfortunately. He gave Pereira more chances than most fighters would get.” Continuing the backlash, a different fan wrote, “Brother, that stoppage was late.”

When it comes to late stoppages, there have been many instances where fans have bashed Herb Dean before. Besides the recent White House stoppage, Dean also received criticism for stopping the Benoit Saint Denis vs. Dan Hooker fight late, which prompted Jorge Masvidal to go on a rant against the veteran referee.

Beyond that too, Herb Dean recently came under scrutiny for his controversial stoppage in the Adriano Moraes vs. Phumi Nkuta fight at the MVP 1 event last month. Dean defended his decision, but Nkuta ended up challenging it by taking the matter to the California State Athletic Commission.

Another fan seemed conflicted about the stoppage, writing, “Oh, so a fighter has to be on the ground and out cold for it to be stopped? You can even say that was a late stoppage. One more punch and Alex was going out.” Meanwhile, another user felt the stoppage was handled correctly, writing, “That was a good stoppage.”

To be fair, Alex Pereira showed signs of recovery when Gane first tagged him with the well-timed jab. Maybe that convinced Herb to give the former champion a little more time in hopes that he could recover. From that perspective, many found the stoppage acceptable. However, the overall consensus appears to be that Herb was late in stepping in. Perhaps he didn’t want to rob the Brazilian of a chance to revive himself.

Amid the growing criticism, another fan pointed out that Gane appeared to land several shots to the back of Pereira’s head, writing, “Which is funny since he missed the ten-plus strikes to the back of the head.” At first glance, some of the Frenchman’s punches did seem to land near the back of ‘Poatan’s head, but the exact nature of those punches is debatable at the moment.

With Ciryl Gane defeating Alex Pereira on the UFC’s biggest stage, he now moves on to a title unification bout against Tom Aspinall. As for the Brazilian, it remains to be seen where he goes from here.