Alex Pereira has been vocal in his discontent about Herb Dean’s lack of action towards Ciryl Gane and the illegal strikes landed during their UFC White House title bout, and Charles Oliveira sees this situation as an opportunity for improvement for all parties involved.
The ‘BMF’ titleholder told MMA Fighting he expected Gane to be “an extremely tough” heavyweight debut for “Poatan,” but envisioned a path to victory. In the end, however, Gane got the finish after dropping Pereira with a jab and proceeding
to hurt him with a flurry of punches and elbows, some of which landed to the back of Pereira’s head.
“Poatan reacted the right way [after the knockdown], going for the legs to defend,” Oliveira said, “Then, in the middle of that chaos—not because he’s Brazilian, but the whole world saw it and it was obvious—some shots landed to the back of the head when they shouldn’t have.”
Watching what happened to Pereira, Oliveira instantly recalled his five-round rematch with Michael Chandler in 2024, when he won a decision despite referee Keith Peterson missing Chandler landing illegal strikes to the back of his head.
“I was having a great fight against Michael Chandler, making it look easy against him—sorry for putting it that way, I don’t even like talking like that—and then, in the final round, he hit me with a shot and poked me in the eye,” Oliveira said. “I put my hand over my eye and Chandler started throwing punches, I went down, and think about how many shots I took to the back of the head. Just stop and think about it. If I had lost to Michael Chandler that night, if the referee had stopped the fight, would my career have continued with the same momentum? Would I have gone on the run that I did?
“Now imagine Poatan’s opponent, knowing all the pressure surrounding that fight. If Poatan had won, he would have become the guy with titles in three different weight classes. Poatan’s name is huge. So imagine being his opponent, landing a big shot and thinking, ‘Man, I’m going to beat this guy, I’m going to stop all this hype, and my name is going to skyrocket.’ He’s under pressure, in a moment where he wants to throw everything he has. That’s why I think there’s a referee there to understand what’s right and what’s wrong, whether it’s time to stop the action or not. I put all the responsibility on the referee, just like I did with the referee in my fight. I think he should have stopped the fight and said, ‘Man, you’re doing something wrong.’
“In Herb Dean’s case, I think he should have stepped in. As Poatan said, he took the jab, he took other shots, and there were punches to the back of the head. People asked me, ‘Do you think a punch to the back of the head made a difference?’ I don’t know. I wasn’t in there. What I do know is that several shots landed in a place where they shouldn’t have. Whether that affected the outcome or not, I can’t tell you. But there were definitely illegal strikes.”
Pereira has called for action against Dean and said he will refuse to fight if the veteran referee is selected as the third man in the cage for his next UFC bout. Although Oliveira agrees with his criticism towards Dean’s call that night, he won’t go as far as join him and ask for Dean to not work in his future fights. Instead, he calls it an opportunity to change things for the better.
“We can’t make it a bigger issue than it is,” said Oliveira, who has had Dean as the referee in five of his 37 UFC bouts. “Herb Dean has refereed several of my fights. He’s always treated me with respect, so I have absolutely no problem with him officiating one of my fights. The reality is that sometimes things happen in the heat of the moment. The angle he had might not have given him the best view. To me, he’s still a great referee.”
“I think situations like this serve as a lesson for other referees, for the UFC, for the commission, for everyone involved,” he continued. “Whether people like it or not, there was a lot at stake in that fight. Poatan could have become an even bigger name, potentially the GOAT of MMA, by winning a third belt. There was a lot of pressure surrounding that moment. I have nothing against him refereeing my next fight. That’s not an issue for me at all. But I do think it serves as a reminder for everyone to stay alert and make sure situations like that don’t happen again.”
