Veteran official, Herb Dean has defended his referring display at Noche UFC earlier this month amid criticizm for his officiating in the event’s headliner between Sean O’Malley and Merab Dvalishvili, after issuing multiple warnings to the latter to “work” and engage in action.
Dean, who officiated the undisputed bantamweight title fight between incumbent gold holder, O’Malley and challenger, Dvalishvili, called a halt to action early in the opening round after the Georgian began speaking with the champion’s cornerman and head coach, Tim Welch — who goaded him during the initial exchanges.
And issuing a warning to Dvalishvili after he kissed O’Malley on the back during a dominant grappling exchange before the end of the third round, Dean was criticized by color-commenator, Joe Rogan as well as play-by-play lead, Jon Anik after he told Dvalishvili to “work” on multiple occasions in the championship rounds, despite circling and holding an lead on the judge’s scorecards.
Herb Dean defends officiating in Noche UFC main event fight
Explaining and defending his officiating, Dean, who has provided referring duties across the mixed martial arts scene for years, claimed he was simply looking for competitors to put in “effort” to bring a finish to the bout.
“I’ve seen on social media people have spoken about me calling the fighters to act more, for more action, and that’s; what I’ve always done,” Herb Dean told Helen Yee during a recent interview. “I’m looking for effort to finish the fight. So, you’re either to posture to where you can throw potentially set up fight-ending attacks or advance your position because it’s not as easy as just passing the guard, but [an] effort to pass, [and] effort to advance your position, [an] effort to bring the fight to a finish. Those rules are there. That rule was put in, standing up fighters, to make our sport look the way we want it to look.”
“I think we want the fights to look like the guys that get signed on the Contender Series,” Herb Dean explained. “That’s why they sign those guys because I think that’s what they want our sport to look like.”