Defiant Dean Defends UFC 306 Officiating

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Longtime referee Herb Dean was assigned to the UFC 306 bantamweight title fight between Sean O’Malley and Merab Dvalishvili, a five-round contest that was not without its share of controversy — both real and imagined.

Some of the blowback, shared by UFC color commentator Joe Rogan during the broadcast, centered on Dean’s involvement in the fifth and final frame. Dvalishvili was warned to increase his output, regardless of his dominant position.

“I’ve seen on social media people have spoken on me about calling the fighters to do more action, and that’s what I’ve always done,” Dean told Helen Yee (transcribed by MMA Junkie). “I can tell you what I tell fighters in the rules briefing, I tell them anytime that I’m going to have an intervention, I’m going to talk to you first. If I’m going to stand you up, I’m going to say, ‘Let’s work,’ or I’ll clap.”

At least it wasn’t a red card.

“That means that what I’m expecting is not busy work, I’m looking for effort to finish the fight,” Dean said. “So you either posture or you can potentially set up fight ending attacks or advance your position or effort to advance, or pass the position … That rule was put in, standing up, to make our sport look like we want it to look.”

Dean was also forced to halt the bout in the opening frame to shut down the screaming match between Dvalishvili and Tim Welch, who was cornering O’Malley in the most vocal way possible — which may have also “exposed” his abilities as head coach.

“I’m not here to be anyone’s parent or anything, and we want people’s personalities to be able to shine, that’s what makes our sport fun,” Dean said. “We have some great personalities, but there is a rule that the seconds (cornermen) are not to interfere in the fight, and that includes trying to influence the referee. It specifies that, and you definitely can’t influence the other fighter or distract them. Your job is to coach the fighter, and my job is to do something about it.”

Dean is probably used to getting screamed at by now.

“It happens, and we do address it,” Dean explained. “It’s been happening as long as the sports have been here, you know what I mean. Even coaching the referee through the fighter, ‘Okay, Herb is going to stand you up because all he wants to do is hold you, and he’s a boring, b*tch ass wrestler,’ and you know they try to coach me through coaching their fighter, and we know it. If it gets to be too much, we’ll say, ‘Hey, that’s a little excessive.’ It’s in the rules, and that’s what the rule is for.”

Despite the distractions, Dvalishvili defeated O’Malley to capture the 135-pound crown.