Overview
- Pereira renewed a public push for a second fight with interim champion Ciryl Gane in an Instagram video that multiple outlets published on Monday.
- The two previously met on June 14 at UFC Freedom 250, when Gane won by second-round TKO in a sequence Pereira and others later said included multiple blows to the back of the head.
- Pereira has directly blamed referee Herb Dean for failing to police those strikes and says a rematch would give him a fair chance to pursue a third divisional UFC title.
- Rising contender Josh Hokit responded with an extensive social-media tirade saying the rematch “makes no f—ing sense” and urging the UFC to give Pereira a lower-ranked opponent or put Hokit on a big card instead.
- The UFC has made no official booking and could still prioritize a Gane–Tom Aspinall unification if Aspinall is cleared to fight, but several outlets say Aspinall’s ongoing eye-surgery recovery keeps a Gane–Pereira fallback plausible before the end of 2026.