A Herb Dean victory on the 2026 World MMA Awards may need sent Alex Pereira over the sting.
The veteran referee has been coming under increased scrutiny in recent weeks and months, and the previous UFC light heavyweight and middleweight champion has been leading the campaign.
Dean stepped in to provide Ciryl Gane a TKO victory over Pereira within the UFC Freedom 250 co-main event on the White House, ending the Brazilian’s hopes of constructing championship history in Washington, DC.
‘Poatan’ was furious, believing the experienced official allowed Gane to land quite a few illegal shots to the back of his head.
With that in mind, he can have been relieved that Dean wasn’t the recipient of an award on Wednesday night.
Is it time for Herb Dean to retire from his referee role?
Marc Goddard beats Herb Dean to ‘Referee of the 12 months’ award following UFC White House controversy
It didn’t take long for Herb Dean to be involved in one other controversy after June 14.
Through the UFC’s second visit to Baku in Azerbaijan, he let Shara Magomedov get away with quite a few fouls in the course of the Dagestani’s win over Michel Pereira.
‘Poatan’ continued his calls for the veteran ref to be fired within the aftermath, a sentiment that has been echoed by loads of fans.
Despite that, though, Dean was still considered one of five nominees within the ‘Referee of the 12 months’ category on the seventeenth annual World MMA Awards.
Alongside Mike Beltran, Jason Herzog, and Mark Smith, Dean was beaten to the award by Marc Goddard. Pereira’s name got here up as fans reacted to the 55-year-old’s defeat on social media.
“Could you might have imagined the scenes if it was Herb Dean.”
“Just imagine the crash out from Alex Pereira if Herb Dean had won it.”
“TRAVESTY. It must have been Herb Dean winning that.”
“So long as Herb Dean is nowhere near the discussion, give it to anyone. I’m good.”
“If Herb had won that 🤣🤣🤣…. Chama.”
But Dean was not without some defenders, in a way. A number of fans pushed back on Goddard receiving the award as a substitute.
“He‘s even worse than Herb but y‘all ain’t ready for this conversation yet.”
“It should’ve been Herb Dean 100%”
“Did (Goddard) win by early stoppage?”
Others, meanwhile, saw no reason to award any referee with the respect.
“This award must be scrapped. There isn’t a good referee in MMA.”
See below for the total list of winners from the seventeenth annual World MMA Awards in Las Vegas.
- Fight of the 12 months: Joshua Van def. Brandon Royval (UFC 317)
- Lifetime Achievement Award: Duke Roufus
- Knockout of the 12 months: Mauricio Ruffy def. Bobby Green via spinning wheel kick (UFC 313)
- Male Fighter of the 12 months: Merab Dvalishvili (former UFC bantamweight champion)
- Female Fighter of the 12 months: Kayla Harrison (UFC women’s bantamweight champion)
- Commentator of the 12 months: Jon Anik (UFC)
- Ringcard Girl of the 12 months: Brookliyn Wren (UFC)
- Promotion of the 12 months: UFC
- MMA Personality of the 12 months: Nina Drama
- MMA Journalist of the 12 months: Ariel Helwani (Uncrowned)
- Upset of the 12 months: Reinier de Ridder def. Bo Nickal (UFC Iowa)
- Comeback of the 12 months: Jared Cannonier def. Gregory Rodrigues (UFC Vegas 102)
- Coach of the 12 months: John Wood (Syndicate MMA)
- Fighting Spirit Award: Ben Askren
- Best MMA Programming: Dana White’s Contender Series
- Referee of the 12 months: Marc Goddard
- Trainer of the 12 months: Everton Oliveira (American Top Team strength & conditioning coach)
- Submission of the 12 months: Jean Silva def. Bryce Mitchell via ninja choke (UFC 314)
- Gym of the 12 months: Syndicate MMA
- International Fighter of the 12 months: Paddy Pimblett (UFC lightweight)
- MMA Media Source of the 12 months: MMA Junkie
- Breakthrough Fighter of the 12 months: Joshua Van (UFC flyweight champion)
- Leading Man of the 12 months: Dana White (UFC president)
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