Former UFC heavyweight champion Junior Dos Santos has launched an appeal regarding his TKO loss against heavyweight prospect Ciryl Gane back in December at UFC 256.
According to a report by MMAFighting, the Nevada State Athletic Commission has requested further information regarding the loss after an initial appeal was filed in January. Following this request, Attorney for Dos Santos, Ana Guedes sent in the information on March 17.
Dos Santos alleges that the strike used to finish his fight against Gane was an illegal elbow to the back of the head, an action that the former champion immediately protested following the stoppage of the fight.
Despite his protesting, the strike was still determined by the referee to be completely legal, and as such Gane was awarded the victory via second-round TKO.
ESPN shared some of the appeal that Guedes filed on Dos Santos’ behalf in March in an earlier report on the case.
“It is our position that Mr. Gane acted without malice but, like many fighters, without a clear understanding of what the rule prohibits,” Guedes wrote in the document obtained by ESPN. “We believe the illegal blow landed exactly where it was intended by Mr. Gane, and should have disqualified him immediately.”
In the appeal, Guedes writes that referee Jerin Valel informed Santos after the fight that due to Gane’s forearm connecting with his ear that the strike would be rendered legal, however, according to Guedes, Valel had misinterpreted the written rule which doesn’t state such exemptions when referring to shots to the back of a fighters head.
Following this loss Dos Santos’s time at the UFC came to an end and while both parties appear to have had a respectful separation it is not apparent how much this loss to Gane factored into Dos Santos’s subsequent release.
In the appeal, Guedes highlighted the end of Dos Santos’ UFC run and subsequent career inside the octagon and requested that the result be amended to reflect the illegal blow so that he can avoid ending his career on a foul.
“Changing the decision of Junior dos Santos x Cyril Gane to a ‘no contest’ or ‘no decision’ is the right result. It is not only the fair result for Junior, who does not deserve to end his brilliant career on a missed foul, but it is the right result for every fighter who will come long after Junior sets his own gloves down,” Guedes wrote.