Alexander Volkanovski supports Alex Pereira’s campaign against illegal strikes

Former featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski has publicly backed Alex Pereira's push for greater referee accountability regarding illegal strikes, specifically supporting Pereira's claims that Ciryl Gane landed multiple unlawful shots to the back of his head during their interim heavyweight title fight at UFC White House.

Pereira (13-4) lost to Gane (14-2) by second-round finish, but the bout was marred by controversy when referee Herb Dean failed to issue warnings for the repeated illegal blows. Pereira has since launched a campaign calling on the fighting community to speak out about inconsistent officiating and the enforcement of rules against fouls. Volkanovski, speaking on YouTube, expressed strong support for that message.

"Herb, I love you, mate, but you should have been pretty vocal, 'Watch the back of the head,'" Volkanovski said. "I don't want to throw shade on people, but there was a lot of back of the head shots. If it was someone I didn't like that did that, I'd probably be a lot more clear with how I'm saying this." He added: "We need to have that discussion, and we're having that discussion. Pereira's asking for people to speak about it, here I am."

Dean has since released a video defending his position, claiming he only considers blows to the Mohawk region of the back of the head as illegal. His stance has drawn criticism from multiple fighters and observers who believe the standard should be more broadly applied to protect fighter safety.