Herb Dean News

Cole Shelton - March 25, 2021

Dan Hardy doesn’t understand why Herb Dean is considered the gold standard of MMA referees. Dean is often the man in charge of UFC main events, however, Hardy believes he is constantly making mistakes. The two haven’t gotten along since their Fight Island incident last summer where Hardy was seen yelling to stop the fight when Francisco Trinaldo was landing heavy punches against Jai Herbert.

Adam D Martin - March 16, 2021

UFC executive Marc Ratner said that referee Herb Dean felt that middleweight Darren Stewart baited Eryk Anders into throwing an illegal knee. Anders was hurting Stewart up against the fence with punches and looked to be on his way to a win, but when Stewart went to the mat and took a knee, Anders nailed him in the head with an illegal knee and the fight was stopped. Dean declared the foul unintentional and thus the fight was ruled a No Contest. The fact Dean called it a No Contest instead of a DQ, which Petr Yan was hit with by referee Mark Smith when he nailed Aljamain Sterling in the head, left some fans who were watching take to social media to share their confusion on why one of these fights was a No Contest and why the other was a disqualification.

Cole Shelton - February 22, 2021

John McCarthy has assessed Herb Dean’s performance at UFC Vegas 19. In the main event of the card, Dean was the third man in the Octagon for Derrick Lewis vs Curtis Blaydes. In the early going, Dean was doing a solid job monitoring the eye pokes. Yet, as Lewis landed the KO punch, “The Black Beast” followed it up with some more shots. He said it was Herb Dean’s fault, but John McCarthy believes Dean did everything he was supposed to.

Harry Kettle - January 26, 2021

UFC commentator Dan Hardy has revived his “feud” with Herb Dean over his stoppage in the Amanda Ribas fight at UFC 257. Ribas was beaten by Marina Rodriguez this past weekend through a string of vicious attacks, but after a moment of hesitation, the aforementioned Herb Dean allowed the fight to go on for a few seconds longer – which caused Ribas to sustain even more damage from Rodriguez.

Christopher Taylor - July 26, 2020

John McCarthy has shared his thoughts on referee Herb Dean’s controversial stoppage in Saturday’s Francisco Trinaldo vs. Jai Herbert fight. The lightweight contest, which served as the featured prelim of UFC Fight Island 3, was called off shortly after Trinaldo landed a hard punch that sent Herbert crashing to the canvas.

Adam Martin - July 26, 2020

Veteran MMA referee Herb Dean defended the controversial stoppage in the Francisco Trinaldo vs. Jai Herbert fight and criticized Dan Hardy for his comments. Trinaldo dropped Herbert with an overhand left in the third round of their catchweight bout on the UFC Fight Island 3 preliminary card. Herbert fell to the mat and Trinaldo appeared to hesitate to throw strikes on the mat at his fallen foe, recognizing he was knocked out. However, Dean didn’t stop the fight right away and needed Trinaldo to land a few nasty punches on the ground before he stepped in and stopped the contest.

Tom Taylor - July 26, 2020

The UFC will investigate an on-air confrontation between referee Herb Dean and commentator Dan Hardy, which occured at UFC Fight Island 3 on Saturday. The controversy occurred in a lightweight contest between Francisco Trinaldo and Jai Herbert. In the third round, Trinaldo leveled Herbert with an overhand left. The impact clearly left Herbert unconcious, but Dean neglected to stop the action, leaving Trinaldo to land two additional and concussive strikes.

Tom Taylor - July 26, 2020

UFC commentator Dan Hardy was livid about a UFC Fight Island 3 officiating blunder from referee Herb Dean, and he wasn’t afraid to show it. The controversy occurred in a lightweight contest between Francisco Trinaldo and Jai Herbert. In the third round, Trinaldo leveled Herbert with an overhand left. The impact clearly left Herbert unconcious, but Dean neglected to stop the action, leaving Trinaldo to land two additional and concussive strikes.

Tom Taylor - April 11, 2019

One of the most anticipated features of the UFC 235 bill was a welterweight showdown between former UFC champ Robbie Lawler and former ONE and Bellator champ Ben Askren. Regrettably, this bout ended in controversy. Mid-way through the first round, Askren locked up a bulldog choke that appeared to lull Lawler to sleep. After referee Herb Dean stopped the action, however, Lawler protested, and the replay revealed that he might not have actually gone out.

Cole Shelton - March 19, 2019

At UFC 235, Ben Askren made his highly-anticipated debut, when he took on Robbie Lawler. Askren, who is undefeated, was looking to show he is the best in the world. However, early on, ‘Funky’ was in a lot of trouble when Lawler slammed him on his head.

Tom Taylor - March 6, 2019

At UFC 235, former UFC welterweight champ Robbie Lawler was tasked with welcoming former ONE and Bellator champ Ben Askren to the Octagon. In the opening seconds of the first round it looked as though Lawler would spoil Askren’s debut, as he executed a beautiful slam and nearly finished the wrestler with a storm of ground strikes. Miraculously, however, Askren was able to weather this storm and lock up a bulldog choke for the victory.

Tom Taylor - September 19, 2018

Last Saturday, on the UFC Moscow card, middleweight veteran CB Dollaway stepped into the cage with Russia’s Khalid Murtazaliev. The fight got tremendously ugly for the American. Toward the end of round two, CB Dollaway found himself in bottom position, absorbing a meteor shower of ground strikes unleashed by Murtazaliev. Before long, it became clear that Dollaway was in danger, as he absorbed repeated blows to the head, and failed to adequately defend himself. Despite this grim scene, referee Herb Dean did not stop the fight. Instead, he let the round end, at which point an exhausted, barely-conscious CB Dollaway essentially had to peeled off the canvas.

bjpenndotcom - May 16, 2017

Saturday night in the preliminary card main event of UFC 211, former UFC lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez stepped into the Octagon against streaking lightweight Dustin Poirier for a highly anticipated showdown. Dustin Poirier began to land early, stunning Alvarez with hard shots throughout the first round before ultimately then rocking Alvarez in the second. Miraculously, Alvarez survived the brutal onslaught, and even managed to flip the script as he rocked Porier in the second. This unfortunately led to a sequence of events that saw a ‘Fight of the Year’ candidate cut short as Alvarez unintentionally landed several illegal knees that dropped Poirier, who was deemed a ‘grounded fighter’ at the time of the knees.

Chris Taylor - April 10, 2017

Herb Dean gives his expert opinion on the Gegard Mousasi vs. Chris Weidman stoppage Surging UFC middleweight contender Gegard Mousasi scored a controversial second-round TKO victory over former division champion Chris Weidman at this past weekend’s UFC 210 event in Buffalo, New York.

bjpenndotcom - January 6, 2017

In the main event of UFC 207, former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey returned to the Octagon to fight Amanda Nunes in a highly anticipated showdown. Just 48 seconds into the fight, referee Herb Dean was forced to call a bout after Rousey continued to eat unanswered shots, noticeably out on her feet. That didn’t sit too well with Michael Rapaport, who appeared on Fox Sports 1 to explain that the stoppage was premature, and that he believes Rousey was saved by “white girl privilege”.

Russell Ess - January 5, 2017

Herb Dean was the referee for the UFC 207 main event championship fight between Amanda Nunes and Ronda Rousey.

bjpenndotcom - April 26, 2016

https://www.facebook.com/TheKOTC/videos/10152468362075017/ MMA referee Herb Dean has earned the reputation as one of the best referees in MMA. Dean has been ‘the man in the middle’ for some of the biggest fights in MMA history including Weidman vs. Silva II. Dean has also been awarded the award for ‘Referee of the Year’ 5 times.