Jorge Masvidal isn’t holding back with his critique of veteran referee Herb Dean.
The longtime in-cage official was on hand at UFC 325 in Sydney to oversee the co-main event bout between Benoit Saint Denis and Dan Hooker, who succumbed to strikes in the second round. However, Saint Denis appeared to dish out a significant amount of ground-and-pound damage on Hooker before Dean stepped in, drawing Masvidal’s ire.
“Who’s the referee? Let me guess, Herb Dean,” Masvidal said in a reaction video on his YouTube channel. “Holy smoke, what is he waiting for? Stop it, bro. Damn, Herb. I don’t know how this dude is still refereeing. What is he waiting for?
“Yeah, Herb, sometime today, huh? It’s just a fight, no rush. The guy’s definitely fighting back intelligently, Herb.”
The official time of the stoppage was 4:45 into Round 2, so it’s possible Dean was giving the experienced Hooker time to work out of the position and make it to the bell. Hooker showed little defense, though, other than turtling up as Saint Denis rained strikes down from top position.
In Masvidal’s eyes, this is far from the first time Dean’s judgement should be questioned.
“Wow,” Masvidal said. “I don’t want to take nothing away from Saint Denis’ performance because it was amazing, but damn, as I’ve said my whole f*cking career, Herb Dean is the worst referee to ever exist. I mean, f*ck, does he suck. Holy smokes, is he bad. A fighter especially like Hooker, though he’s obviously on his way out, he’s not going to quit, he’s not going to tap. You have to take that guy out, but he’s obviously in this position for over a minute and a half and he’s eating shots the whole time from elbows to backfists to the face, getting choked, and then now the guy has obviously no energy because he took all of it to escape the choke.
“He’s stuck in that position, had maybe 15 unanswered shots and still nothing. Still had another 15 unanswered shots. Worst referee I’ve seen.”
Masvidal clarified that he holds no malice towards Dean, only concern for his fellow fighter and whether Dean—one of the most recognizable referees in all of MMA—is well past his prime.
“It’s nothing personal against him, because as a human being I think Herb’s a great dude,” Masvidal said. “I’ve heard great things, I’ve been around him a lot. As far as refereeing is going, I don’t know what it is, he just don’t got it.”
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