Dana White says whether Herb Dean has lost a step as a UFC referee is not his call to make, deflecting questions about the veteran official following fresh controversy at UFC Fight Night 280 in Baku.
White addressed the topic at the Zuffa Boxing 8 post-fight press conference, via The MacLife.
I don’t know. I don’t know the answer to that question, but that’s not up to me. That’s up to the commission.
Dean came under renewed scrutiny for his officiating of the co-main event between Shara Magomedov and Michel Pereira in Baku, with Alex Pereira publicly criticizing Dean again after Dean declined to take a point from Magomedov following repeated hair-pulling and an accidental eye poke on Pereira while he was downed. Magomedov won by unanimous decision.
Pereira had already been pursuing an appeal against Dean over the Ciryl Gane fight at UFC Freedom 250, where he maintained he was struck repeatedly to the back of the head. When asked about that appeal at the same press conference, White offered a similarly brief response.
I heard about it. There is no MMA in my algorithm. Unless my PR director tells me, I don’t know.