Herb Dean wants to have a conversation with Joe Rogan, and the rest of the UFC 306 broadcast team after the UFC’s event at Sphere.
The veteran referee was the third man in the octagon for the main event between new bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili and Sean O’Malley. In the closing rounds, Dean repeatedly told Dvalishvili to work more on the ground while in top position. Rogan called Dean’s tactics “insane,” and was quite critical of Dean down the stretch. While speaking on JAXXON Podcast, Dean reacted to the situation, and knew when he started getting negative comments flung his way on social media it came from commentary criticism.
“I’m not sure if I totally understand that myself,” Dean said. “I think the analysts who started it — and I don’t want to be critiquing those guys, or have an adversarial relationship because, first of all, they say a lot of good things about me, and they have over the years.
“I would like to talk to them… the commentators. I can tell it was the commentators before I even heard that it was because on social media, I was getting a lot of the same thing. … I see a bunch of grown men saying somebody else’s opinion, must’ve been something the analysts said, and it was.”
Dvalishvili ultimately won the fight, and the title via unanimous decision in a bout that the MMA community won’t have on their Fight of the Year lists. Dean was also part of a couple of other strange moments in the bout — including Dvalishvili yelling at O’Malley’s head coach Tim Welch seconds into the contest, along with telling Dvalishvili to stop kissing O’Malley’s back prior to the end of a round.
But it was Rogan’s comments from the commentary booth, more so, that got Dean most of the negative attention after UFC 306.
“They’re saying that I shouldn’t be telling the guys to work,” Dean explained. “This is something I’ve always done. Our sport, there’s rules that are there for safety. There’s rules that are there for fairness, we have rules that are there to build our sport. To make our sport what it’s supposed to be. To make our sport more exciting. …
“Most of the coaches can say my pre-fight instructions with me because I say the same thing. I tell them about things we have problems with. Most of them know the rules… but to this stuff, two things that are the most important things before I intervene: The biggest intervention is when I’m going to start your fight. So you always hear me say, ‘Fight back. Fight back.’ That lets them know so it’s not a surprise to them. … The next thing I’m going to say is, I’m going to say ‘work.’ And that means that I’m about to take your position away. Because in this sport we have position, and a position can lead to a fight being finished, but when I say ‘work,’ that means what I’m looking for is not just busy work, I’m looking for effort to finish the fight.
“Instead a bunch of [tapping] punches, where you could do a full five-minute round with this and not change, I’m expecting you to posture, throw bigger shots. Instead of trying to hold on, I’m expending you to spend energy advancing position, passing guard, or if you’re up against the fence, putting energy into a takedown. Something that’s going to bring the fight to a conclusion.”
For newer fans learning the nuances of the wild sport that is MMA, Dean lays it out as simple as possible as to why he issues warnings for these types of scenarios.
“If you have a superior position, if you’re not using it to win the fight, you’re using it to hide from your opponent to burn time,” Dean said. “That’s not what we want our sport to look like, I don’t think.”
He got like 15 years of ref of the year awards unjustified.
Herb Dean sucks, diversity accolades.
That type of behavior is unacceptable in the workplace.
While statistically most of the fights he refs are probably without controversy he has made so many glaring mistakes that is all I seem to remember him for.
He got into his own head and got a bit of a complex and now thinks its his job to dictate how a fight plays out.
Maybe he has a proxy who is betting on his fights.
The first rule of reffing should be:
Refs should play as small of a role as humanly possible and intercede ONLY when absolutely necessary.
Let them fucking fight.
We pay to see them, not you.
And yes, we pay to see them get hurt. Allow it.
Might wanna take back that 100 lol.
I edited for brutality.
Nah I definetly agree 100%
I’m still pissed that Herb stopped the Nunes Rousey fight early before Ronda was lying completely unconscious on the floor!
The ninja, Jason Herzog, is the best Ref eva, Herb should listen to him.
You guys disagree with what he says? Sure, like Dean, Big John often made himself way too visible, but he did the same: WORK. Herb is right we want to see attempts to finish the fight, and not just be time wasters with a dominant position. Refs can restart fighters, so it’s in the rules, basically. He simply gives warnings, as he should.
it wasnt that he was asking for work, it was that he started asking for work at the end of a fight where the work he was asking for would put the winning fighter at risk and give the “biggest star in the ufc” a much higher chance of winning…
My man lol
Refs have no business telling a fighter how to fight.
They need to shut the fuck up and make themselves invisible until absolutely necessary.
Like children.
Or cops.
A Milford Man is neither seen NOR heard…
calling for action, or telling someone to work is coaching. I get his point though. Fighters usually want that input from the ref.
How did you feel about Pride handing out yellow cards and taking away a fighter’s money if they felt they weren’t fighting hard enough?
I honestly don’t remember much about this fight other than it was super late, and I just wanted it to end so I could go to bed. I also hate O’malley and was happy with the winner…
I do feel like if a fighter is just laying there doing nothing the ref has the right to warn them if they don’t do anything signficant soon the fight will restart on the feet. I just can’t remember if this fight was that slow of a pace or not.