Opinion: Herb Dean’s Consistent Inconsistency

Editor’s note: The views and opinions expressed below are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Sherdog.com, its affiliates and sponsors or its parent company, Evolve Media. When asked who the best referee in mixed martial arts is, fans and media usually name one of three different men.“Big” John McCarthy is the most famous, long-tenured, outspoken referee in the game. He also has the most high-profile certification course for MMA officials and is the most willing to answer Twitter questions about how the sport’s rules work. Hell, he’s even stepped up to help a fighter get one of his bad calls overturned. Yes, McCarthy rubs some people the wrong way, and he’s made some strangely contradictory calls, but he’s more of a presence than anyone else and is the first person fans will think of among referees, much less pick the best one. A lot of the most hardcore fans and media members, especially those who relish watching overseas cards on UFC Fight Pass, may pick Marc Goddard. He’s authoritative and his style of talking to the fighters very loudly is easy to notice on TV, so he jumps out in a way that other don’t. On top of that, he’s so respected that there was widespread outrage when the Nevada Athletic Commission treated him as some random nobody applying for a license when he applied to work in the state last year. As good (and loud) as Goddard is, though, and as recognizable as McCarthy is, the default answer is Herb Dean. Dean is, in fact, a great referee. His case with fans is helped by the long period where McCarthy was exiled from both the Ultimate Fighting Championship and Nevada, which coincided with much of the UFC’s growth. As a result, he was the most visibly solid referee in the sport. Even Dana White has heaped praise upon him, including calling him “the best referee ever in mixed martial arts,” in a 2010 video interview. In 2016, though? It’s little more than just conventional wisdom. There have been complaints about Dean before, but he had one of his strangest calls at UFC Fight Night: Whitaker vs. Brunson this past weekend, where he was the only non-Australian referee …

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