Brendan Schaub has delivered a harsh public critique of veteran referee Herb Dean following Dean’s work at UFC Baku and other recent events.
In the co-main event of UFC Baku, Shara Magomedov defeated Michel Pereira via decision. During the bout, Magomedov pulled Pereira’s hair on the ground, a foul that Dean identified but chose not to punish with a point deduction. Schaub argued that the main takeaway from that fight should not be Magomedov’s performance, saying, “The narrative on Magomedov’s fight against Michel Pereira, it’s not Shara Bullet,” and instead pointed directly at Dean’s officiating.
“It’s Herb Dean has once again inserted himself into the controversy, and I think for Herb his issue is he doesn’t want to insert himself into the fight and be one of the reasons a fighter loses, stuff like that. But when you’re in that octagon, you’re the sheriff. You’ve got to make sure things are going according to code. You have to. That’s why you’re in there. He just doesn’t take responsibility,” Schaub said.
Schaub also referenced Andre Fili’s loss to Vinicius Oliveira at UFC Vegas 119, noting, “In the Fili fight, it’s like, the dude had a straight-up gash in an illegal spot in the back of the head and he’s bleeding, you do nothing,” and tied that to the hair-pull sequence in Baku: “Then with Shara Bullet grabbing the hair, it’s like, what the f*ck are you doing, Herb? At some point, insert your g*ddamn authority into the fight.”
Dean has previously argued that he is reluctant to deduct points because of how much it could affect the scorecards. Schaub, however, called for the opposite approach: “Herb Dean should go completely the opposite direction and have no wiggle room and just be strict as hell, no warnings, taking points.”
