Junior dos Santos is still upset about how his final UFC fight against Ciryl Gane went down back in December of 2020.
Dos Santos fell to Gane in the second round of their UFC 256 fight, with “Bon Gamin” hitting “Cigano” with a monster elbow that dropped the former heavyweight champion. According to Dos Santos and many others who watched the replay several dozen times, the finishing blow looked suspiciously like an illegal shot to the back of the head.
Now JDS says Gane is up to his old tricks again at UFC Paris, where the French fighter defeated Tai Tuivasa via KO in the third round (watch the highlights here).
“What a dirty fighter this Gane is,” dos Santos wrote on Twitter. “Again hitting the back of the head. And now what are those ‘fight experts’ will say about it?”The video Junior shared shows Gane throwing a wild hammerfist which clearly bounces off the back of Tai Tuivasa’s head. Gane would go on to finish the fight with his follow-up punch.
As laid out in the Unified Rules of MMA, strikes to the back of the head or neck are quite illegal. But just like many other illegal moves in MMA, they tend to happen a lot without any meaningful action from the referee. Many refs seem to make a distinction between a strike that hits the back of the head during a flurry or scramble and a fighter purposefully attacking the back of the head on the ground.
Dos Santos has his reasons for being bitter about his loss. It was his fourth defeat in a row, resulting in the UFC releasing him from the promotion. It’s clear “Cigano” was not happy about being tossed by the UFC after 12 years with the promotion. Going out on a questionable finish was just salt in the wound.
After a year and a half break from competing, dos Santos returned at an Eagle FC event in May 2022, losing a fight against Yorgan De Castro after his shoulder spontaneously dislocated on him in the third round. While Eagle FC head Khabib Nurmagomedov was clearly hoping to set up a JDS vs. Fedor Emelianenko fight, the TKO loss via injury scuttled those plans.
JDS isnt wrong
Classic karate chop to the back of the neck.
JD’s is spot on.
Remember JDS’s early early fights in the UFC? Fuck that guy was scary. Would take that JDS over Ngannou but that would be about as epic a heavy weight fight ever
Someone remind JDS that its a fight.
Prime JDS vs prime Ngannou? Prime Ngannou gets the win
I would take Prime JDS, but he probably didnt fought too many actually great strikers?
A bit younger Mark hunt would be fun too, i could see him catching Francis
Pot calling the kettle black
Watch an early JDS ufc fight. No one was beating that guy esp anyone who stood w him
Just off the top of my head early JDS smoked Yvel a very good striker and past prime JDS knocked mark hunt out w a wheel kick. He was a monster
I’ll remind you that it’s a sport.
If you want the “fights” you speak of, hit up your local bar parking lot.
Shit happens in sport fights, but that was rather blatant from Gane. Not sure what other intent he had there.
Just think of the Grand Prix that could be made with the following
Ngannou, Stipe, Cain, JDS, DC, Gane, Hunt, Blaydes.
Oh my
Was Yvel really that dedicated to mma? I’m not sure but his mma run was pretty underwhelming
Im actually surprised nobody called it out when it happened. It was a dirty shot for a fighter that for all intents and purposes was already out.
Yvel went 40-16 over 21 years in MMA and fought in PRIDE, UFC, K1, RINGS, ROAD, Cage Rage, M1, Affliction etc… and beat Rizzo, Kita, Shoji, Sherner, Kongo, Schreijber, Barreto, Goodridge, Tamura, TK, Schilt etc…
Calling that a “pretty underwhelming” MMA run seems strange to me but I guess people have different definitions of words.
He retired after a four fight win streak that included wins over Alexander, Rodriguez and Mighty Mo.