Herb Dean has long been considered one of the best referees in mixed martial arts. But after another controversial night at UFC Fight Night Baku, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to defend some of his decisions.
The co-main event between Shara “Bullet” Magomedov and Michel Pereira was the latest example. Magomedov won a unanimous decision, just as I predicted. but I don’t think the fight should have ended that way. Not because he didn’t deserve to win rounds two and three, but because he committed enough fouls to warrant a point deduction.
Nothing but warnings
The first issue came in the opening round. Magomedov pulled Pereira’s hair three separate times during grappling exchanges. Even Herb Dean acknowledged it inside the cage, telling him he had pulled Pereira’s hair three times.
Still, all he received was a warning. Then things got even worse in the third round.As Magomedov stood up from the ground, he extended his fingers straight into Pereira’s eyes, resulting in a clear eye poke. Once again, Herb Dean stepped in, and once again, it was only a warning.
At this point, warnings don’t really mean anything anymore.If a fighter repeatedly breaks the rules and never loses a point, the warning simply tells them they got away with it.
A point could have changed everything!
Looking purely at the action, I actually agree with the judges. Pereira clearly won the first round after dropping Magomedov with a huge right hand and controlling much of the remainder of the round.
Magomedov responded by winning the second. Pereira’s output dropped significantly, something we’ve seen since he moved up to middleweight. His cardio simply hasn’t looked the same as it did at welterweight.
The third was also a strong round for Magomedov. Pereira came out aggressively, but Magomedov countered beautifully throughout the round and landed several clean lead side kicks to the body.
Without the fouls, 29-28 for Magomedov makes sense. But that’s exactly why the lack of a point deduction matters so much. One deducted point turns the fight into a draw. Instead, the fouls had no impact on the final result.
The scoring system has its own problems
This fight also reminded me of another issue with MMA judging. The first round and second round were both scored 10-9. But they weren’t equal rounds.
Pereira’s knockdown was easily the biggest moment of the fight. He perfectly timed Magomedov’s low kick, stepped into it, and landed a huge right hand that sent him crashing to the canvas.
That kind of damage isn’t the same as edging a competitive striking round.Yet under the current scoring system, both rounds receive the exact same score. That has always been one of the biggest flaws in the 10-point must system.
A worrying trend for Herb Dean
The bigger concern is that this isn’t an isolated incident. At UFC Freedom 250, Dean allowed multiple fouls during Alex Pereira vs. Ciryl Gane without issuing any point deductions. Pereira has stated he wants to appeal the decision.
Last week, during Manel Kape vs. Kyoji Horiguchi, there were several eye pokes that also went unpunished.
Now we have Magomedov pulling hair three times and poking Pereira in the eye, again without losing a point. That’s three straight events where Dean has been heavily criticized for refusing to penalize repeated fouls.
Is Herb Dean the worst referee in MMA?
Herb Dean has officiated some of the biggest fights in UFC history and has been one of the sport’s most respected referees for years. He is probably not the worst ref, but something has to change!
Referees have to enforce the rules consistently, and correctly. Right now, it feels like Dean is far too reluctant to take points away, even when fighters repeatedly commit the same fouls.
That’s becoming a real problem, and after three straight cards featuring the same criticism, it’s fair to question whether Herb Dean is still setting the standard for MMA officiating.