Herb Dean accused of ‘hurting the game’ with recent officiating by UFC legend Henry Cejudo

Henry Cejudo believes that Herb Dean is causing damage to MMA’s repute together with his performances in major fights recently.

After opting to permit some questionable strikes from Ciryl Gane within the ending sequence of his UFC Freedom 250 win over Alex Pereira, it has been open season on the veteran referee. Poor showings the next two shows in Las Vegas and Baku have furthered concerns about his officiating.

Is it time for Herb Dean to retire from his referee role?

Now, former two-division world champion and Olympic gold medalist Cejudo has joined the pile-on. He has his own history with questionable officiating during considered one of his final fights with Song Yadong where he lost after a watch poke, and was last referee’d by Dean in his 2023 title effort against Aljamain Sterling.

Henry Cejudo slams Herb Dean in latest refereeing rant

As someone who has dealt together with his fair proportion of poor officiating through the years including that infamous UFC Seattle major event against Song Yadong, Henry Cejudo knows just how serious a foul call may be for a fighter’s profession.

“If Herb Dean is the usual of officiating at the best level then that is a few s—, bro and something needs to be done,” Cejudo said during his latest episode of Pound 4 Pound with Kamaru Usman. “It’s true Kamaru, it’s true.

“I can see Pereira there’s two or three fouls, come on man. You’re moving and it’s blah blah blah. But now there’s hair grabbing, hands coming in and that’s an ‘accident’? That’s absolute bulls— and I’m going to inform you why.

“Us fighters lose half of our rattling pay if we lose, if that deduction was to occur for hair pulls and a watch gouge [in the Shara Magomedov vs Michel Pereira fight at UFC Baku] that’s two deductions, you already know what that does? That puts Pereira because the winner.

“He goes back to Brazil in a position to provide a greater life to his family. You recognize what happens? He loses half of his pay due to the refereeing not having b—s enough. If that is what officiating is, bro, then this whole game is a f—ing joke!”