Herb Dean is still UFC President Dana White’s favorite referee, despite a “horrible effort” in the fifth round of the epic light heavyweight title fight between Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier at UFC 182.
“Herb Dean, I always talk about him; I think he’s my favorite referee. He did a horrible job in the fifth round,” White said in a post-fight interview on FOX. “He let them clinch, literally for five minutes, but other than that, it was an amazing fight.”
With all of the pre-fight trash talk, it was surprising to see the Jones and Cormier bout actually live up to the hype. Past high-profile bouts in the UFC with excessive pre-fight talk have generally ended in either a lackluster or lopsided showing.
Fans endured months of hype for Rashad Evans and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson only to watch both men stall out in the clinch for 15 minutes. There was plenty of bad blood heading into the 2012 fight between Evans and Jones, former teammates at Greg Jackson’s MMA.
However, the actual fight was so one-sided that UFC matchmaker Joe Silva could have started the search for Evans’ next contender by the third round. Jones and Cormier managed to live up to the hype after taking fans on a wild journey of intense verbal exchanges on ESPN and a media brawl.
After a four-round clinch battle, both fighters were absolutely spent and exhausted in the final round. However, Jones appeared to be the fresher fighter, as he was able to outland Cormier in critical moments to solidify a decision victory.
A little bit of separation would have been nice in the fifth round, but Dean seemed content in allowing the fight to continue to play out in the same area the brunt of it was fought.
If anything, we should be congratulating Dean for his adamantium chin displayed after taking an accidental punch from Cormier at the end of the final bell.
Jordy McElroy is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. He is also the MMA writer for Fanrag Sports.
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