{"id":359096,"date":"2026-07-01T08:31:24","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T03:01:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/?p=359096"},"modified":"2026-07-01T08:31:25","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T03:01:25","slug":"legendary-referee-defends-herb-dean-amid-alex-pereiras-calls-for-his-job-after-ufc-freedom-250-controversy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/2026\/07\/01\/legendary-referee-defends-herb-dean-amid-alex-pereiras-calls-for-his-job-after-ufc-freedom-250-controversy\/","title":{"rendered":"Legendary referee defends Herb Dean amid Alex Pereira\u2019s calls for his job after UFC Freedom 250 controversy"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Follow us on Google Discover<\/span> <\/a> <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Herb Dean has the backing of certainly one of the inventors of MMA\u2019s entire ruleset; \u2018Big John\u2019 McCarthy, in his latest feud.<\/strong><\/p>\n

For years, there have been questions surrounding a few of Dean\u2019s more questionable calls. But things have ramped up in recent weeks after a concentrated campaign from Alex Pereira following a lot of shots he deemed illegal in his defeat to Ciryl Gane at UFC Freedom 250.<\/p>\n

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Is it time for Herb Dean to retire from his referee role?<\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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Should Herb Dean retire? Credit: Luke Hales\/Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n

That historic night on the White House was followed up by some dodgy decisions first on the Meta Apex in Las Vegas after which Baku by the veteran referee. And there at the moment are petitions calling for him to be sacked from refereeing altogether.<\/p>\n

Big John McCarthy defends Herb Dean amid onslaught from fighters and fans<\/h2>\n

No person is more aware of MMA and its ruleset than the legendary \u2018Big John\u2019 McCarthy. He was involved in defining a lot of the principles during his early days in the game, and he believes that the shots in that UFC White House fight were completely legal.<\/p>\n

During an appearance on The Ariel Helwani Show today, McCarthy was shown a lot of photos that appeared to point illegal punches. Nevertheless, he claimed that they were all fully justifiable shots and explained what’s the back of the pinnacle.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’ve got different commissions, we’ve got different groups, we’ve got different people,\u201d McCarthy described when talking about MMA\u2019s big problem. \u201cWhen the unified rules was put together I made it as open as I could with what was occurring on the time so far as what the back of the pinnacle is.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were coming into the world of boxing, and the commissions were very comfortable with the boxing world. They weren’t comfortable with MMA so that they desired to go together with \u2018headphones\u2019 [anything behind where one would wear a pair of over the ear headphones] prefer it is in boxing.<\/p>\n

\u201cMedically speaking, they\u2019re right it\u2019s what the back of the pinnacle is. But boxing is a 180-degree sport meaning we cut that boxer from those headphones straight down the edges and on the waist then that\u2019s your legal areas where you may punch, you may\u2019t touch their back or do anything.<\/p>\n

\u201cMMA is a totally different sport, it\u2019s a 360-degree sport\u2026 Within the early days there was no back of the pinnacle and we didn\u2019t have any complaints of individuals going \u2018oh, oh my God\u2019, they knew they could possibly be hit.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you imagine you may\u2019t be hit somewhere and you’re hit there it\u2019s an attention getter and also you go \u2018hey, you may\u2019t hit me there\u2019. So I\u2019m not blaming the fighter in any way, however the back of the pinnacle starts on the crown of the pinnacle, meaning all on top is nice.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere [Ciryl Gane\u2019s] elbow is at is an excellent spot. It starts on the crown which is towards the back, happening and it\u2019s a two-inch strip. It\u2019s not a large strip, if I put my hand back it\u2019s my two fingers is what the back of the pinnacle is.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur major concern and where the entire rule comes from is the Occipital junction where the skull and the spine come together. That was what the doctor was truly concerned with, so we could take, say, a mohawk.\u201d<\/p>\n

McCarthy then explained that there was a transient period where the choice on what constitutes the back of the pinnacle modified from commission to commission. Nevertheless, that has now modified under the unified rules.<\/p>\n

As for Pereira and Gane, McCarthy admits that there have been \u2018a pair in there\u2019 which he felt could have been illegal shots. Nevertheless, he said that he often tells fighters once they\u2019re in position for a finish to go for his or her opponent\u2019s ear so that they can\u2019t reach an illegal area.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s how open the back of the pinnacle is, actually,\u201d he continued. \u201cSo long as you\u2019re touching an ear, you already know you\u2019re going to be good. When you\u2019re within the act of attempting to go after your opponent and so they move their head and it hits them square to where that illegal area is you\u2019re going to listen to me call out your name.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to inform someone, say their name is Bob, \u2018Bob, that\u2019s an excellent shot, it\u2019s in your opponent, he turned his head, I can\u2019t expect you to stop that mid-throw but I don\u2019t want you to return with a second one, I need you to either switch hands, come excessive and switch directions and tools.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut don\u2019t come back with a second shot in that area because there\u2019s too many positions where you saw Ciryl Gane in that fight go after his opponent. Do I feel Ciryl Gane is a grimy fighter? No, I don\u2019t. <\/p>\n

\u201cI feel at times he becomes reckless when he has the chance to finish the fight and starts to simply wail. It happens with a ton of fights.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Follow us on Google Discover Herb Dean has the backing of certainly one of the inventors of MMA\u2019s entire ruleset; \u2018Big John\u2019 McCarthy, in his latest feud. For years, there have been questions surrounding a few of Dean\u2019s more questionable calls. But things have ramped up in recent weeks after a concentrated campaign from Alex […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":359097,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[338],"tags":[1568,2745,3511,4583,1766,18455,36672,432,7264,22595,8108,3928],"class_list":["post-359096","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-alex","tag-calls","tag-controversy","tag-dean","tag-defends","tag-freedom","tag-herb","tag-job","tag-legendary","tag-pereiras","tag-referee","tag-ufc"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t