Chael Sonnen defends Herb Dean, explains why MMA referees and judges not speaking to the media is a good policy

Chael Sonnen defends Herb Dean [Photo credit: @ufc on Instagram & YouTube.com]

Chael Sonnen came to the defense of Herb Dean and said it's a good thing that MMA judges and referees aren't very accessible to the press.

Sonnen weighed in with his thoughts after Dean received backlash for an alleged early stoppage call during the main event of UFC Fight Night: Volkov vs. Rozenstruik.

Jorge Masvidal was the most vocal fighter to speak out against Dean. 'Gamebred' went as far as saying he never wanted Dean to call his fights ever again.

Check out Jorge Masvidal's comments below:

Jorge Masvidal doesn't want Herb Dean to referee or judge his fights any more.

📰 bit.ly/MasvidalDean https://t.co/yyEqRGoYAp

According to Sonnen, however, officiating a fight is a tough job, especially when the referee tries to stick by the rules at all times. For that reason, 'The American Gangster' thinks referees and judges not talking to the media is "good policy." During an episode of the Beyond the Fight YouTube show, Sonnen said:

"In MMA, our judges and our referees do not speak to the media. I think that that's a good policy. I don't see where anything they could say would behoove them. And I can see a number of things that they would attempt to say that would be used sternly against them. I think it's a really good policy. But I think we can also all see how that could be really hard. That's still your name, that's still your face, that's still your reputation, that's still your body of work – you would like the story to be told accurately."

Catch Chael Sonnen's comments in the clip below:

More on Chael Sonnen's thoughts about the Jorge Masvidal - Herb Dean issue

Jorge Masvidal thinks Herb Dean doesn't like him personally because the referee had allegedly allowed him to take too many illegal blows without punishing his opponent.

'Gamebred' mentioned his most recent fight against Colby Covington as an example. According to Masvidal, he was kneed to the groin by Covington, but Dean didn't stop the action.

As far as Sonnen is concerned, however, Dean was only implementing the rules. Sonnen continued:

"If you ever saw [Matt] Hughes' fight, it was every single fight he was calling time out. And every single fight, the referee did it. And the referee should have done it none of those times, he should've stopped the fight, TKO, you lose. The rules are extremely clear on that. Which just ties into the referee has to see it."