Opinion: The UFC has a refereeing problem, and Herb Dean is at the center of it

Referee Herb Dean is once again at the center of a
controversy. | 📷: Jeff Bottari/Zuffa/Getty

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To say there’s a controversy with referees in any sport is like
saying there’s corruption in politics.

Duh! Mixed martial arts is obviously no stranger. We’ve had
referees jump in too soon when a fight should be allowed to
continue, taking away the opportunity for an athlete to continue
fighting when they have their wits about them. We’ve had things go
to the opposite end of the spectrum where the bout goes too long
and a competitor is taking unnecessary punishment when the action
should have already been stopped. The latter is usually more
common, not to mention more egregious. However, while it certainly
remains an issue, it’s been a lesser topic in terms of referereeing
incompetence.

The enforcement of the rules has been the problem as of late. It
isn’t enough for a ref to let a fighter know they’re breaking the
rules; they need to offer some sort of dissuasion to keep them from
continuing to do so. Maybe something like, oh, I don’t know…
taking a point?

At this point, a fighter would be stupid not to attempt to break
the rules with regularity. They seem to have about three good shots
to the groin, about the same number of eye pokes, countless fence
grabs, not to mention grabbing their opponents shorts and/or gloves
while grappling. Oh yes… last weekend we blatantly saw another
one that can be added to the list: hair pulling.

Why Herb Dean’s handling of fouls has become the real
controversy

Last weekend, Michel
Pereira managed to rock the heavily favored Sharaputdin
Magomedov in the opening round. As Magomedov was on his back with
Pereira in his guard looking to rain down some power punches,
Magomedov grabbed the hair of Pereira. In the process, he prevented
Pereira from posturing up to land with authority, not to mention
taking Pereira out of his flow. The resulting pause in the action
also allowed Magomedov to further clear the cobwebs. So naturally,
given the natural advantage Pereira had managed to create for
himself, Magomedov should have been deducted a point, right?
Nope.

Referee Herb
Dean took the egregious foul as a time to give a “stern
warning” prior to the opening of the second round, telling
Magomedov “no more fouls.” If I heard that, I would assume that
means the next time Magomedov breaks the rules, a point would have
to be taken. Maybe Dean forgot. Come the third round, Magomedov
poked Pereira in the eye and faced no repercussions from the
foul.

The typical argument for why refs don’t take more points is they
don’t want to insert themselves into the fight. Perhaps it would be
more accurate to say insert themselves into the action any more
than they have to. While I understand the sentiment, it’s a bunch
of hooey. The referee is an element of the fight. They are
one of three individuals inside the cage or ring while the action
is happening. Their job is to ensure the rules are being followed
and penalize those who insist on breaking them, intentional or not.
That appears to be the biggest problem with refs, choosing to
penalize based on how intentional the foul. That’s not how it’s
supposed to work; a foul is a foul.

Why MMA fighters keep getting away with repeated fouls

Think about how things work in basketball. If you attempt to block
the shot of a shooter and smack their arm, that’s a foul. It
doesn’t matter that you weren’t trying to hit their arm, it is
still a foul. As a result, the shooter gets to go to the foul line.
Perhaps the ref fears penalizing the fighter will put it in their
head they have to fight cautiously. While that would likely be the
case, it is incumbent upon fighters to learn how to fight without
committing fouls. I get that accidents happen and if the ref wants
one hard warning a fight, fine. But there needs to be a much harder
line set than what currently exists.

At this point, it has emerged as a full-blown controversy. A large
number of fighters are saying they don’t want him to referee their
fights. If fighters are worried for their safety, they aren’t going
to perform at their optimal level. They will also be less likely to
fight fairly if they don’t feel fighters will be punished for
fouls. I can’t blame them for preferring to be the fighter doing
the fouling as opposed to the fighter being fouled.

This isn’t that easy to fix. The UFC is the one who assigns refs
for events that aren’t overseen by an athletic commission, so they
appear to be a glutton for punishment. Athletic commissions don’t
seem too concerned either as they continue to employ refs like Dean
without hesitation. Beyond that, it would be inaccurate to say the
UFC doesn’t have any influence on who commissions assign to their
events. Several refs over the years whom Dana White took issue with
just stopped getting UFC assignments. Steve Mazzagatti, Kim Winslow
and Mario Yamasaki are former mainstays that went by the wayside
after enough gaffes. For whatever reason though, there haven’t been
any referees who’ve rotated out due to incompetence as of late.

I would propose a grading system of sorts given commissions don’t
seem to care. Less emphasis on referee’s discretion and more on
what neds to be done so there isn’t variance and easier to
grade. So the referees aren’t living off a reputation they
developed 20 years ago – as Dean has since seeing Frank Mir break
the arm of Tim Sylvia
when noone else did – the time frame only goes so far back for the
cumulative score. If they fall below a certain level, they’re
suspended for a time as kicking them down to the regional scene
would be cruel to those fighters. While suspended, perhaps they
retake the course to be a certified referee. Have a respectable
name like John McCarthy or Andy Foster
head up the program and choose the committee members and/or
criteria. Given the billions they rake in, the UFC could spare some
cash towards this endeavor.

I don’t want to make it sound as though being a referee is easy.
It’s difficult in any sport and the stakes are high in MMA. The
health of the participants is literally in the hands of the ref.
However, just because it is difficult, that doesn’t mean the sport
and those who present it shouldn’t strive for the optimum in all
facets. Bad nights will happen and shouldn’t define an official.
But this has become a trend for Dean. Dean has lost the confidence
of those who should have supreme confidence in him. It’s time
something changed.