Ilia Topuria, Alex Pereira face 6-month medical suspensions after UFC White House losses

Ilia Topuria and Alex Pereira are staring down six-month medical suspensions after absorbing knockout losses at UFC White House this past weekend.

California State Athletic Commission executive director Andy Foster shared the full suspension list with MMA Fighting on Thursday after serving as regulator for the event on behalf of the Association of Boxing Commissions and Combative Sports. Both Topuria and Pereira received 180-day layoffs unless cleared early by specialists, following a card that produced seven knockouts across seven bouts.

Gaethje gets same suspension despite victory

Topuria must be cleared by an oral and maxillofacial surgeon to return before the six months expire. He also carries a mandatory 60-day suspension with no exceptions after Justin Gaethje closed both his eyes with punches and landed the body knee that forced his corner to stop the lightweight title fight between the fourth and fifth rounds. Gaethje himself faces the same 180-day suspension unless a physician clears him for a potential right wrist injury and a left knee MRI comes back clean.

Pereira, knocked out by Ciryl Gane in the second round of his heavyweight debut, needs clearance from a maxillofacial CT scan to compete sooner than 180 days. He was handed a mandatory 45-day rest period due to the knockout. Gane received just an eight-day mandatory rest.

Other notable suspensions include Aiemann Zahabi at 180 days unless cleared by CT scan, Steve Garcia at 180 days pending left hand x-ray clearance, and Michael Chandler at 45 days after his knockout loss to Bo Nickal. Nickal received a four-day mandatory rest, the shortest on the card.

The next UFC event takes place July 12 in Las Vegas.

Reported via:

• MMA Fighting — UFC White House medical suspensions: Ilia Topuria, Alex Pereira both receive 6 month layoffs after losses