Veteran mixed martial arts (MMA) referee Herb Dean has explained why having him officiate the “super fight” between Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather wouldn’t make sense.
Dean may be highly regarded as an MMA referee, but he isn’t experienced with boxing match-ups. While McGregor’s coach John Kavanagh believes an MMA referee would be ideal for the Aug. 26 showdown. Dean explained to Bloody Elbow why that won’t happen:
“It’s a boxing fight. I don’t know why we should use an MMA referee. I think the (boxing referee) would understand the boxing grappling that’s legal. I can see (potential bias) being a concern more, but myself, I wouldn’t want to referee it. My experience is with refereeing MMA, so there’s a bunch of people more qualified to do it than I am. It’s a boxing match.”
McGregor and Mayweather are set to clash inside the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. While the referee for the bout hasn’t been made official, Kavanagh and Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) President Dana White are against the idea of giving the assignment to Kenny Bayless.
A big reason for Kavanagh and White’s gripe is over a video where Bayless dismisses the legitimacy of McGregor vs. Mayweather. See it for yourself:
Seriously? This is Kenny Bayless who works for the NSAC a potential ref for the fight. Sounds like he works for the crybaby Oscar De La Arum pic.twitter.com/7yLvORqMOQ
— Dana White (@danawhite) June 23, 2017
