Dos Santos Fuming Over ‘Illegal’ Loss To Gane

Former UFC heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos was stopped by heavyweight up-and-comer Ciryl Gane at the UFC 256 pay-per-view (PPV) event last December in Las Vegas, part of a dreadful four-fight losing streak that saw the Brazilian finished in all four defeats.

But Dos Santos insists that Gane’s fight ending sequence was “illegal” and that blaming “Cigano” for turning into the strikes is like blaming a victim for murder or rape. Even worse, UFC refuses to acknowledge that Dos Santos was screwed by referee Jerin Valel.

“The UFC never said a word,” Dos Santos told Ag Fight (via Bloody Elbow). “It’s fine by them. I find that absurd. A clearly illegal shot and the president and a bunch of fighters think that what happened was acceptable. Actually, everyone agrees that it was illegal, but they said I turned around and positioned myself that way. To make a comparison, which I don’t even think I should, that’s like blaming the victim for a crime of theft, murder, or rape. I don’t think it was intentional, but that doesn’t make it any less illegal. They said I turned around. I didn’t. I was already standing sideways for about eight seconds and you can see the elbow hit the back of my head from there.”

The 21-9 Dos Santos, who turns 37 later this month, seemed to be on his way to another heavyweight title run back in early 2019, then came a first-round knockout loss to power-punching contender Francis Ngannou on ESPN and “Cigano” has yet to recover.

As for Gane, undefeated at 7-0, his performance against Dos Santos resulted in the most prominent victory of his career. No word yet on what the promotion has in store for his next time out, but “Bon Gamin” believes a “Predator” showdown is only a matter of time.