Henry Cejudo has called on the Nevada State Athletic Commission to take action after a series of controversial decisions by referee Herb Dean sparked outrage in the MMA community. Cejudo singled out Dean’s recent performances, saying it’s “ridiculous” that he still holds his position.
The former UFC champion was particularly vocal following UFC 332 in Salt Lake City, where Dean stopped the main event after King Green was knocked down for the third time in the first round by Esteban Ribovics. Green immediately protested the TKO loss, claiming the stoppage was premature. Dean’s decision reignited criticism over his refereeing, which has been under scrutiny throughout the year.
Dean also missed an illegal knee during Dana White’s Contender Series 94 last Tuesday. Ian Escuza landed the knee on Luca Borando in the fight-ending sequence, but Dean did not intervene. UFC president Dana White acknowledged that this year has been “a rough f*cking year” for Dean, whose most criticized moment came at UFC Freedom 250. There, Dean failed to call fouls on multiple shots to the back of the head in Alex Pereira’s TKO loss to Ciryl Gane.
On his “Pound for Pound” podcast with Kamaru Usman, Cejudo expressed frustration with Dean’s ongoing errors. “It’s ridiculous that the Nevada State Athletic Commission, that he still even has a job, in my opinion,” Cejudo said. “Nobody likes this dude no more, they show him on camera, and he’s getting booed. No accountability whatsoever. It’s a f*cking mafia.”
Usman, however, defended Dean’s role in the Green stoppage. “If you put yourself in a vulnerable position, to where you give him a reason to potentially stop it, it’s very difficult to be upset later,” Usman said. “Like, ‘Damn, why did you stop that?’ You put yourself in that vulnerable position. So, his job in there is to potentially try to protect you from taking brain damage.”
Cejudo agreed that refereeing is a tough job but said the recent controversies go beyond the stoppage at UFC 332. “I’m not so mad at this one,” he said. “Maybe I am just picking on Herb Dean, but the last time at the Contender Series when that dude (Borando) gets kneed to the f*cking head, and this dude (Dean) doesn’t have the balls. You should have stopped it when he got kneed. The ‘Poatan’ (Pereira), it’s just endless, dude. I think he just needs to take a break from fighting. He needs to step aside.”
The Nevada State Athletic Commission has yet to comment on Cejudo’s call for intervention. Meanwhile, Dean remains one of the most high-profile referees in MMA, despite the criticism from fighters, promoters, and fans alike. His future assignments could hinge on whether the commission decides to review his recent performances.
According to Yahoo Sports.
