Jorge Masvidal critical of referee Herb Dean following UFC 272: “He’s not my cup of tea when it comes to refereeing”

Jorge Masvidal was not happy with the work done by referee Herb Dean in last night’s UFC 272 main event.

Masvidal (35-16 MMA) squared off with his former friend turned bitter rival Colby Covington (17-3 MMA) in the headliner of last night’s pay-per-view event in Las Vegas.

The highly anticipated welterweight contest was overseen by the aforementioned veteran official in Herb Dean. In the opening round Covington came forward with a combination and accidently (we think anyway) poked Masvidal in the eye. The referee did not initially recognize the foul which allowed Colby to move into a more dominant position. At the conclusion of the opening round Herb Dean checked the tape and warned Covington about the eye poke. Not only two minutes later the bout was paused after ‘Chaos’ landed another foul, this time a low blow.

While Jorge Masvidal is not blaming the fouls committed by Covington for his lopsided defeat, he made it clear that he was not impressed with Herb Dean.

“The eye poke was pretty bad, man. The only thing that’s hurting on me right now is the fuckin’ eye poke,” Masvidal said (h/t MMANews). “My eye’s still throbbing right now. I’ve had a couple mishaps with Herb Dean. I just don’t get it why he didn’t fix the action. [Covington] threw a punch, missed, and then he immediately just jabbed me in the fuckin’ eyeball. I’m not gonna take nothin’ away (from) him winning the fight because that was just one sequence; it would’ve been cool if he would’ve stopped it there and I would’ve got my fuckin’ breather and then we restart because he poked the shit out of my eye, and it’s still throbbin’ right now. That’s the only thing that’s hurting on me.” 

Jorge Masvidal suffers defeat to Colby Covington at UFC 272

When asked if he was surprised that Herb Dean did not deduct a point from Colby Covington following his second foul (the groin strike), Jorge Masvidal shared the following sentiment.

“No, I wasn’t surprised at all,” Masvidal responded. “I was just surprised that after the eye poke in the first round that he didn’t just break it up and address it. Like, that position wouldn’t have happened had he not poked me in the eye. So it’s whatever. It’s Herb Dean stuff. Everybody here could—if you’ve seen fighting, you’ve seen Herb Dean have numerous hiccups. I’m not gonna blame the fight on him, but he’s not my cup of tea when it comes to refereeing.”

Do you agree with Jorge Masvidal that referee Herb Dean was not in his best form yesterday evening?