UFC ref Herb Dean under fire for latest error after Alex Pereira criticism

It’s a bad month to be UFC referee Herb Dean.

One heralded by UFC president Dana White as the best official in the business, Dean has come under fire in recent weeks after being called out by former tow-division champion Alex Pereira following his UFC Freedom 250 loss to interim heavyweight champion Cyril Gane.

Pereira claims he was struck multiple times in the back and side of the head moments before Gane landed fight-ending strikes that spoiled Pereira’s heavyweight debut.

After the bout, Pereira laid into Dean, calling for him to face some sort of repercussions for missing the illegal strikes.

“A punch to the back of the head — you’re right there, man, you have to be seeing it,” Pereira said. “… [Dean] is not a man. He shouldn’t have been refereeing that fight. To be honest, a guy like that should be punished. It’s a very serious job and a very serious event. What happened? The ref should’ve faced legal consequences for that.”

It seems Dean didn’t learn his lesson after the Pereira-Gane fight. During Saturday’s UFC Baku card, Dean came under fire again for another mistake he made during the Sharaputdin Magomedov-Michel Pereira fight.

Dean warned Magomedov in Round 1 he’d get a point deduction if he committed another foul (he grabbed Pereira’s hair multiple times before the warning). In Round 3 Magomedov poked Pereira in the eye but a point wasn’t deducted. Magomedov ultimately won by decision.

“Herb Dean needs to be fired it’s getting so bad,” one fan exclaimed.

“Herb Dean is a danger to fighters and should never be allowed in the cage again!” another argued.

“Yeah, I’ve been defending herb Dean‘s last couple weeks, but this one is undefendable,” a third fan scoffed.

“Okay, enough said. Fire Herb Dean,” one user replied.

“Alex Pereira was right,” remarked one user.

“Worst ref in the world, any fight with him as the ref you can just do anything you want,” another user proclaimed.