John McCarthy has weighed in on the controversy surrounding Ciryl Gane’s TKO win over Alex Pereira in their interim heavyweight title fight at UFC Freedom 250.
Pereira lost by TKO on Sunday at the White House in Washington DC and has announced plans to appeal, accusing Gane of illegal blows to the back of his head and posting images of lumps on his head. He also criticized referee Herb Dean and requested that Dean never officiate his fights again.
Breaking down the finishing sequence, McCarthy said, "Pereira gets hurt, he goes down, and Gane goes after him, and he starts swinging," and added, "He hits him with a couple of really hard shots. They were all legal, right to the side of the head, and as he goes in, he starts to go down, and he starts throwing elbows. What you have to understand is he's throwing an elbow, but he's also being pushed by Alex, who's grabbing a leg and now pushing forward, which changes as someone's trying to throw something. Your target can be changed by the momentum or the push or just the body in motion of the opponent."
McCarthy emphasized how referees view such sequences, noting the instructions given in the back and stating, "I'm not saying that Alex possibly didn't get hit to the back of the head," but defended Dean’s real-time judgment. He highlighted that Pereira managed to work back to his feet and that Dean "decided that nothing (he) saw is going to make (him) take Ciryl Gane and stop him" based on what he could see of the strikes as "body's in motion."
