New UFC corner footage shows Alex Pereira's coach screaming 'back of the head' during Ciryl Gane finish

The UFC has released new corner footage from Ciryl Gane's second-round TKO win over Alex Pereira at UFC Freedom 250, and it shows Pereira's head coach Plinio Cruz screaming "back of the head" at referee Herb Dean as Gane closed the fight. The clip, which surfaced on Thursday, October 29, and was reported by MMA Fighting on Friday, has reopened one of the biggest heavyweight controversies of 2026, four months after the June 14 card on the White House South Lawn in Washington, DC.

What the footage shows

The roughly one-minute video uses angles from both corners. According to MMA Fighting, Cruz can be seen and heard yelling "back of the head" toward Dean during the finishing sequence, while MMA Sucka reported that he repeatedly shouted "That's back of the head, ref!" as Gane chased the stoppage. On the other side of the cage, Gane's corner erupts in celebration once the fight is waved off.

The new angle does not settle where the punches actually landed. It shows the corners' reactions rather than a clean view of the strikes, but it does confirm that Pereira's team was protesting in real time rather than only after the result.

Why the finish is still disputed

Gane hurt Pereira early in the second round and finished him with ground strikes to win the interim UFC heavyweight title. According to MMA Sucka, an analysis by Yahoo Sports counted as many as 11 finishing shots and indicated that seven of them landed to the back of Pereira's head. No points were deducted and the result stands.

Pereira has been openly critical of Dean since that night. In a 15-minute video breaking down the loss, quoted by MMA Sucka, he said: "It was a lucky jab and he took advantage. That was the opportunity of a lifetime for him. This guy has a long history of it. Dirty shots, punches to the back of the head. I brought that up with the referee ahead of time and asked him to keep an eye on it."

He added: "If you watch the footage, multiple shots, multiple elbows to the back of the head. Given everything that happened illegal, I was getting up. It became difficult to recover, but I believe that if it wasn't for those shots, I wouldn't be in that situation and could've possibly recovered."

Dean defended his handling of the stoppage in an Instagram video, and California State Athletic Commission executive officer Andy Foster said Pereira's head movement during the scramble made it hard to police exactly where the shots landed, MMA Sucka reported. Dean has been booed at several UFC events since June. According to Combat Sports UK, Pereira has said he sometimes feels bad about those boos, but he would still keep Dean away from his fights if it were his choice.

What comes next

The footage drops in a busy stretch for both men:

• Gane, who was promoted to undisputed champion after Tom Aspinall vacated the belt, makes his first title defense against Josh Hokit in the UFC 334 main event at Madison Square Garden on November 14.
• Pereira faces Sergei Pavlovich in the co-main event of UFC 335 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on December 12.

If Gane gets past Hokit and Pereira beats Pavlovich, a Gane vs Pereira rematch would be one of the obvious fights to make at heavyweight. For now, the new video gives Pereira's side more ammunition but no official change to the result.