Tag: Herb Dean

Herb Dean vs. Joe Rogan? Veteran Referee Breaks Down His Controversial UFC 306 Decisions

Herb Dean vs. Joe Rogan? Veteran Referee Breaks Down His Controversial UFC 306 DecisionsTenured referee Herb Dean wants to have a sit-down conversation with Joe Rogan and the rest of the UFC…

Herb Dean vs. Joe Rogan? Veteran Referee Breaks Down His Controversial UFC 306 Decisions

Tenured referee Herb Dean wants to have a sit-down conversation with Joe Rogan and the rest of the UFC 306 broadcast team.

In September, Dean saw a significant amount of criticism flung his way during UFC 306’s headliner between Merab Dvalishvili and ‘Sugar’ Sean O’Malley. During the later rounds, Dean repeatedly warned Dvalishvili to keep working and stay busy while deploying his grappling-heavy attack. Rogan called Dean’s tactics “insane” and was quite critical of his performance in the championship rounds.

Herb Dean

Appearing on the JAXXON podcast with Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson, Dean attempted to address the criticism from Rogan and Co. and revealed how he first became aware of their negative comments.

“I’m not sure if I totally understand that myself,” Dean said. “I think the analysts who started it — and I don’t want to be critiquing those guys, or have an adversarial relationship because, first of all, they say a lot of good things about me, and they have over the years.

“I would like to talk to them… the commentators. I can tell it was the commentators before I even heard that it was because on social media, I was getting a lot of the same thing. … I see a bunch of grown men saying somebody else’s opinion, must’ve been something the analysts said, and it was” (h/t MMA Fighting).

Dvalishvili ultimately came out on top, scoring a unanimous decision victory over O’Malley to claim the bantamweight world title. Before that, Dean was part of a few other odd moments during the 25-minute affair, including an instance where he had to discourage ‘The Machine’ from speaking to O’Malley’s coach Tim Welch in the opening seconds. Dean was also forced to tell Dvalishvili to stop “kissing” his opponent during a grappling exchange.

Herb Dean

Herb Dean defends his actions at UFC 306 amid criticism from Joe Rogan

However, it was Rogan’s issue with Dean’s calls to “keep working” that generated a majority of the negative attention on online.

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“They’re saying that I shouldn’t be telling the guys to work,” Dean explained. “This is something I’ve always done. Our sport, there’s rules that are there for safety. There’s rules that are there for fairness, we have rules that are there to build our sport. To make our sport what it’s supposed to be. To make our sport more exciting. …

“Most of the coaches can say my pre-fight instructions with me because I say the same thing. I tell them about things we have problems with. Most of them know the rules… but to this stuff, two things that are the most important things before I intervene: The biggest intervention is when I’m going to start your fight. So you always hear me say, ‘Fight back. Fight back.’ That lets them know so it’s not a surprise to them. …

“The next thing I’m going to say is, I’m going to say ‘work.’ And that means that I’m about to take your position away. Because in this sport we have position, and a position can lead to a fight being finished, but when I say ‘work,’ that means what I’m looking for is not just busy work, I’m looking for effort to finish the fight.

“Instead a bunch of [tapping] punches, where you could do a full five-minute round with this and not change, I’m expecting you to posture, throw bigger shots. Instead of trying to hold on, I’m expending you to spend energy advancing position, passing guard, or if you’re up against the fence, putting energy into a takedown. Something that’s going to bring the fight to a conclusion.”

Herb Dean

Simply put, if a fighter is using their dominant position to ride out the clock, Dean is going to step in and issue a warning or force a standup to make the sport more exciting for fans.

“If you have a superior position, if you’re not using it to win the fight, you’re using it to hide from your opponent to burn time,” Dean said. “That’s not what we want our sport to look like, I don’t think.”

Herb Dean Uses Dana White’s Contender Series Example To Explain ‘Let’s Work’ Calls During UFC 306 Main Event

Veteran referee Herb Dean came under some criticism following his role as the official inside the cage during the main event of UFC 306. The fight between Sean O’Malley and Merab Dvalishvili for the bantamweight title wasn’t exactly a fight of the year contender, but it wasn’t dull either. Despite the stakes that were involved […]

Continue Reading Herb Dean Uses Dana White’s Contender Series Example To Explain ‘Let’s Work’ Calls During UFC 306 Main Event at MMA News.

Veteran referee Herb Dean came under some criticism following his role as the official inside the cage during the main event of UFC 306.

The fight between Sean O’Malley and Merab Dvalishvili for the bantamweight title wasn’t exactly a fight of the year contender, but it wasn’t dull either.

Despite the stakes that were involved in this fight, Dean repeatedly told Dvalishvili to work when he was wrestling O’Malley, specifically towards the end of the fight.

He later explained that this was not a call that he made because the challenger wasn’t doing anything – rather, it was because Dvalishvili wasn’t attempting to cause damage or finish the fight in these exchanges.

Herb Dean Says That The Contender Series Is Proof Of What The UFC Wants MMA To Look Like

In a recent interview with Helen Yee Sports, Dean spoke more about why he is asking fighters to work more in these positions.

He believes that though a fighter using his grappling to negate his opponent’s offence is an effective technique, it isn’t what the UFC want the sport to look like.

To prove his point, Dean made reference to Dana White’s Contender Series and how those fights prioritize action and aggression.

We have seen several occasions throughout the eight seasons of the show, where fighters win in convincing fashion but don’t earn contracts because their performances didn’t show that hunger and killer instinct that the UFC is after.

Dean believes that the reason for that is to fill the roster with fighters who are always looking for the finish, rather than stalling the action to secure a victory by any means necessary.

“I’m always gonna be learning something new from some of these athletes if they take some time to share with me. But, it’s what we want our sport to look like and I think we want our, I’m going to do the Contender Series tonight, I think we want the fights to look like the guys that get signed on the Contender Series.

“That’s what I think that, that’s why they sign those guys because I think that’s what they want our sport to look like and so guys who maybe get ahead and are going to manage position… if that’s what we want our sport to look like, somebody in charge let me know. But, I think we want it to look like the fights on the Contender Series so that’s why we tell guys to work.”

Read also: Dana White’s Contender Series Season 8, Week 7 Highlights As 5 Prospects Secure Contracts

Continue Reading Herb Dean Uses Dana White’s Contender Series Example To Explain ‘Let’s Work’ Calls During UFC 306 Main Event at MMA News.

John McCarthy: Merab Dvalishvili Could Have Lost Points For ‘Unsportsmanlike Conduct’ At UFC 306

According to former referee John McCarthy, Herb Dean would have been well within his rights to penalize UFC Bantamweight Champion Merab Dvalishvili for his actions against Sean O’Malley. Dvalishvili secured his long-awaited crowning moment on mixed martial arts’ biggest stage at this month’s UFC 306 (Noche UFC) pay-per-view. The Georgian topped the lineup, staged inside […]

Continue Reading John McCarthy: Merab Dvalishvili Could Have Lost Points For ‘Unsportsmanlike Conduct’ At UFC 306 at MMA News.

According to former referee John McCarthy, Herb Dean would have been well within his rights to penalize UFC Bantamweight Champion Merab Dvalishvili for his actions against Sean O’Malley.

Dvalishvili secured his long-awaited crowning moment on mixed martial arts’ biggest stage at this month’s UFC 306 (Noche UFC) pay-per-view. The Georgian topped the lineup, staged inside the unique surroundings of the Sphere, in competition for O’Malley’s title.

While “Suga” was able to find the fight-ending blow against Dvalishvili’s friend and teammate Aljamain Sterling last year to capture the gold, that wasn’t the case on September 14.

Instead, “The Machine” used his renowned gas tank and grappling abilities to earn the nod on all three scorecards. But while there was little debate over the decision, there’s been plenty of discussion surrounding other aspects of the fight.

In addition to a verbal altercation between Dvalishvili and O’Malley’s coach in the opening moments of round one, the second stanza came to a close with controversy after the Georgian used his dominant position to repeatedly kiss the champ’s back.

The moment almost ended in disaster for Dvalishvili, who took the referee’s calls to stop as the end of the round and turned his back on O’Malley with seconds remaining, leading to him eating a strike.

But according to McCarthy, Dvalishvili would have faced further consequences had he been officiating the UFC 306 main event…

McCarthy Recalls Docking Fighter 2 Points For Kissing Opponent In Light Of UFC 306 Moment

During a recent episode of his Weighing In podcast alongside former Strikeforce and UFC fighter Josh Thomson, McCarthy looked back on how Dean officiated the September 14 main event in Las Vegas.

On the topic of Dvalishvili’s back kisses toward the end of round two, McCarthy recalled how he dealt with a similar situation during his days as an active referee.

“I’ve been in this position where I had a fighter kiss another fighter. You look and you go…’What the f*ck did you just do?’ It takes you a second to realize, ‘You just f*cking kissed him!’ Then it’s a matter of how you are going to deal with it,” McCarthy said. “I took two points from him. You want to do something that is absolutely not part of our sport, nobody asked you to do it, nobody wants you to do it, and you want to be cute? Congratulations, you better go finish the fight now. I can disqualify you if I want.

“When that happened, Herb was caught off guard, let’s just be honest,” McCarthy continued. “He should have either made a decisive, ‘Stop! Time, you get over there, you get over there,’ and do something about what just occurred. If he wants to give him a hard warning over it, that’s fine. If he wants to take points, take points for unsportsmanlike conduct, that’s fine. But he got caught in the middle of it.”

O’Malley and his coach, Tim Welch, have since given their own verdict on the moment, suggesting that had the referee kept completely out of the way, “Suga” could have launched a potentially fight-ending head kick from behind.

Alas, that wasn’t to be, and Dvalishvili instead ground out a convincing victory on the scorecards. But with some referees evidently favoring stern punishment for his actions inside the Sphere, perhaps he’ll be a little less keen to place his lips on his next opponent.

Continue Reading John McCarthy: Merab Dvalishvili Could Have Lost Points For ‘Unsportsmanlike Conduct’ At UFC 306 at MMA News.

Former UFC Champ Says Herb Dean Officiated ‘Like He Had Money On O’Malley’ At UFC 306

Count former UFC bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw among those confused by Herb Dean’s actions in this past weekend’s main event. The veteran official was tasked with being the third man inside the Octagon for the Noche UFC (UFC 306) headliner inside the Sphere, where Sean O’Malley put his 135-pound gold on the line against Merab […]

Continue Reading Former UFC Champ Says Herb Dean Officiated ‘Like He Had Money On O’Malley’ At UFC 306 at MMA News.

Count former UFC bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw among those confused by Herb Dean’s actions in this past weekend’s main event.

The veteran official was tasked with being the third man inside the Octagon for the Noche UFC (UFC 306) headliner inside the Sphere, where Sean O’Malley put his 135-pound gold on the line against Merab Dvalishvili.

Dean wasn’t short on involvement early on, with a war of words between the challenger and coach Tim Welch in O’Malley’s corner forcing his intervention, shortly followed by a warning to “The Machine” for repeatedly kissing the defending champ’s back while in control of him on the ground.

Later in the fight, the referee featured in a different way as he frequently called for more action while Dvalishvili held a dominant grappling position.

While that was enough to cause debate, Dean’s decision to do the same while the pair were on the feet in the main event’s dying seconds saw him become the subject of heavy criticism from the commentary team and fans online.

Dillashaw Slams Dean For UFC 306 Main Event Refereeing: ‘Shouldn’t Be Involved Like That’

During a recent episode of the JAXXON PODCAST, Dillashaw looked back on the events that unfolded inside the Sphere alongside Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, Luke Rockhold, and Jason Parillo.

The former UFC bantamweight champion was firm with his criticism of the third man inside the cage for Saturday’s headliner, suggesting Dean refereed favorably toward the defending champion.

“It’s complete bullsh*t,” Dillashaw said. “You can’t tell two fighters to work when they’re on their feet. I could run circles if I wanted to. You can’t tell me to go and work. … It’s not like I’m stalling against the cage. We’re striking, and you’re telling me to work. Like, I might run into something now ’cause you’re coaching me on how I am supposed to fight. The ref shouldn’t be involved like that.

“I thought it was very weird. It was almost like he had money on O’Malley,” Dillashaw continued. “(It was) like he wanted Merab to keep going so O’Malley could catch him with something. It was weird.”

Dean’s performance in the main event has remained a prominent talking point days on from the show, as has factors away from the fighting action itself such as Welch’s controversial corner tactics.

While many have lauded the UFC for the spectacle it put on inside the Sphere, those likely weren’t the topics that the promotion hoped would come out of the pay-per-view main event.

Continue Reading Former UFC Champ Says Herb Dean Officiated ‘Like He Had Money On O’Malley’ At UFC 306 at MMA News.

Jorge Masvidal Calls Out ‘Worst Referee’ After UFC 306

Jorge Masvidal Calls Out 'Worst Referee' After UFC 306Jorge Masvidal was not a fan of Herb Dean interjecting himself into Saturday’s main event clash between Sean O’Malley…

Jorge Masvidal Calls Out 'Worst Referee' After UFC 306

Jorge Masvidal was not a fan of Herb Dean interjecting himself into Saturday’s main event clash between Sean O’Malley and Merab Dvalishvili.

It was clear from the get-go that the longtime referee wasn’t going to tolerate any shenanigans in the UFC 306 — also known as Riyadh Season Noche UFC — headliner. Seconds after the bout began, Dean briefly paused the action to warn both Dvalishvili and O’Malley’s coach, Tim Welch, to stop engaging with one another. The moment was undoubtedly odd, but nothing that had any sort of impact on the fight itself.

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Unfortunately, that wasn’t the only time Dean got involved in the five-round headliner. Throughout the contest, Dean continuously encouraged the fighters to work whether they were standing, on the mat, or clinched up against the fence.

The commentary trio of Jon Anik, Joe Rogan, and Daniel Cormier expressed their frustration with Dean’s never-ending commands which eventually trickled down to social media where fighters and fans alike slammed the Pasadena native.

That includes the UFC’s original BMF, Jorge Masvidal, who held nothing back in his review of Dean’s performance.

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“Worst referee in the game Herb Dean,” Masvidal wrote on X.

Merab Dvalishvili dominates lackluster Noche UFC title fight

Dvalishvili’s fight with O’Malley had a little bit of everything; a stoppage for “excessive coaching,” an incident where Dean literally had to tell ‘The Machine’ not to “kiss” his opponent, and, of course, Dean’s constant demands to “keep working.”

But after all the antics and the drama were over, fans witnessed the crowning of a new UFC bantamweight champion. Dvalishvili ran away with the fight on the scorecards, securing a decisive unanimous decision to both extend his streak to 11 and claim his first piece of gold inside the Octagon.

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What comes next for O’Malley is uncertain, but it appears to be much more clear on Dvalishvili’s side of things.

Herb Dean reflects on Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Conor McGregor post-Fight brawl: ‘Plenty of targets’

Herb Dean Reflects on Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Conor McGregor Post Fight Brawl: 'Plenty of Targets'Veteran referee, Herb Dean has reflected on his part in the post-fight brawl between the camps of both Khabib…

Herb Dean Reflects on Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Conor McGregor Post Fight Brawl: 'Plenty of Targets'

Veteran referee, Herb Dean has reflected on his part in the post-fight brawl between the camps of both Khabib Nurmagomedov and Conor McGregor – explaining that while he, security personnel, and other officials tried to coral the teams, there were still “plenty of targets” of attack.

Sharing the Octagon in a brutal grudge fight back in 2018, then-undisputed lightweight champion, Khabib Nurmagomedov managed to defend his title for the first time during his reign – taking on former two-weight champion, McGregor.

Conor McGregor again rips Khabib Nurmagomedov over tax issue betrayed and fled Russia

Taking on the Dubliner in the main event of UFC 229, Nurmagomedov landed a fourth round neck crank submission win over McGregor – handing the former champion his first defeat at 155lb, before beginning a brutal brawl with the former’s corner, including former Bellator MMA star, Dillon Danis.

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Separated from McGregor by referee, Dean after appeared to spit in the direction of his bitter rival following his submission success, Nurmagomedov’s team scaled the Octagon in pursuit of the Dublin striker, with officials storming the cage in a bid to separate and stop the mass brawl.

Herb Dean reflects on Khabib Nurmagomedov, Conor McGregor brawl

Reflecting on his part in stopping the influx of fights in the Octagon, veteran official, Dean admitted that while he and others managed to corral combatants, everyone inside the venue was a “target” during the fiasco.

Conor McGregor

“The funny part about that [the brawl] is even though that whole brawl was chaos,” Herb Dean said. “All those guys were extra respectful of the officials. So, I pull him (Khabib Nurmagomedov) off [of Conor McGregor] right? And then he’s still going after him, talking to him, and I’m like pushing against him. And he’s like, ‘Okay, well… I’m not gonna wrestle Herb, but I’ve got other people I’ve gotten – you.’”

“…They’re not listening, but nobody was threatening the referee or one of the inspectors,” Herb Dean explained. “You’re grabbing the guys – once you grab them they’re like, ‘Oh, okay.’ But if you don’t get them they’re like, ‘There’s plenty of targets.’”