Former UFC flyweight and bantamweight champion Henry Cejudo absolutely trashed MMA referee Herb Dean following a series of no-calls.
Dean was involved in a series of controversial fights over the past month, including no-calls in the Alex Pereira vs. Ciryl Gane, Andre Fili vs. Vinicius Oliveira, and Michel Pereira vs. Shara Magomedov. In all three cases, the losing fighter complained about Dean’s lack of taking points for the fighters who committed fouls.
Now, a former UFC champ, Cejudo, has gone against Dean, too.
Henry Cejudo Trashes Herb Dean
Speaking on the “Pound 4 Pound” podcast alongside former UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman, Cejudo took Dean to task for his poor handling of recent MMA bouts.
“If Herb Dean is the standard of officiating at the highest level then that is some (expletive), bro and something has to be done. It’s true Kamaru, it’s true. I can see the Pereira a little bit, there is about two, three fouls. Alright, man. You’re moving, blah, blah, blah. But now hair grabbing where a hand is coming in, there’s hair being pulled and that’s an ‘accident?’ That is absolutely (expletive), and I’m going to tell you why,” Cejudo said (via MMAjunkie.com).
“Us as fighters, we lose half of our damn pay when we lose, if that deduction was to happen, which it was two hair pulls and an eye gouge in Round 3, that should have been two points. You know what that does? That puts Pereira as the winner. That means he goes home in Brazil, a third-world country, where he’s able to give a better life to his family, but you know what happens? He gets deducted half of what he was supposed to make because the referee did not have the balls enough to actually stop it. It’s (expletive) up. If he’s the gold standard of what officiating is, bro, then this whole game is a (expletive) joke!”
Herb Dean Under Fire
Dean has come under fire in the last month, but not much has been done by the athletic commissions that hire him, as he continues to be booked for the biggest fights possible.
Ultimately, MMA referees have a very difficult job to do, as they have to make split-second decisions that affect fighters’ paychecks, livelihoods, and careers.
But Dean has to be better, because fighters competing under him seem to feel like they can get away with committing fouls without getting more than a warning for the infractions they commit.
Dean has been doing this for a long time, and he always gets big fights and title fights because he is one of the most highly respected referees in the game. But he has not been good lately, and he needs to do a better job of policing his fights, or else fighters are at risk of getting seriously injured under his watch.
As a Nevada-licensed official, look for Dean to be back reffing fights at UFC 329 next weekend, and the spotlight will surely be all over him that night.
Former UFC Champion Trashes MMA Referee Herb Dean