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Former UFC Heavyweight Champion Junior Dos Santos has formally filed an appeal for TKO defeat to Ciryl Gane at UFC 256.
Junior Dos Santos was recently fired from the UFC after four consecutive defeats, the most recent of which was to Ciryl Gane at UFC 256. In that fight, Gane punched Junior Dos Santos with an elbow that seemed to potentially hit him in the back of the head. However, referee Jerin Valel did not commit a foul, and the fight was declared a victory for Ciryl Gane by TKO. Dos Santos was dissatisfied with the defeat and expressed his dissatisfaction with the result of the fight immediately after the competition, but this was not enough to save his job. After 13 years of working with the world’s leading MMA promotion, Junior Dos Santos has been released, and he’s not thrilled that the cut came after being defeated by Ciryl Gane.
According to MMAFighting.com, the Junior Dos Santos team has filed a formal appeal with the Nevada State Athletic Commission. Junior’s attorney Ana Guedes sent the following to the NSAC:
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“We have not and do not allege that the referee did not see the foul; rather, he saw the blow to the back of Junior’s head, but as a result of his misinterpretation of the rule, he wrongly failed to call it a foul, and he wrongly awarded a victory to the offending contestant, Cyril Gane… There is no doubt that the elbow was the initial point of contact of the blow, and where Gane’s power struck – precisely, squarely, directly on the illegal striking zone.”
According to the report, the Junior Dos Santos team has several photos showing bruises on the back of his head in the days following his defeat by Ciryl Gane. The ultimate goal is to either change the fight to No Competition or retroactively disqualify Ciryl Gane, giving Junior Dos Santos a victory.