Former BMF champion slams Herb Dean for making "too many mistakes at a high level," calls him "one of the worst referees that's ever existed"
Former BMF champion Jorge Masvidal recently labeled octagon official Herb Dean as "one of the worst referees" in the sport while discussing his UFC 272 bout against Colby Covington.
'Gamebred' faced longtime rival Covington in March 2022 after a bitter feud between the pair had been boiling for a number of months. While both men had promised a finish, 'Chaos' largely dominated the bout with his relentless pressure and wrestling, taking home a unanimous decision victory.
An incident occurred during the first round, however, where Covington appeared to catch Masvidal in the eye with his fingers while attempting to throw a punch. Masvidal was then talking to Dean while trying to defend a takedown from Covington, clearly agitated that the referee didn't catch the alleged eye poke.
Watch the moment here (0:15)
Now, two years on from the bout, Masvidal has reflected on the incident and Dean's officiating.
Speaking on a recent episode of George Janko's podcast, the 39-year-old claimed that Covington intentionally eye poked him and that after the fight he was seeing "double vision." The former BMF champ also took aim at Dean, who he believes made a mistake by not catching it during the fight. Masvidal said:
"The eye poke? Oh 100% [Covington did it intentionally]. It was a good f*cking eye poke because after the fight I was seeing double vision. Herb Dean and me have never f*cking gotten along and I think he's also one of the worst referees that's ever existed. He makes too many mistakes at a high level... He's always had these weird calls with me."
Catch Jorge Masvidal's comments here:
Herb Dean recalls receiving threats from UFC veteran
Veteran octagon referee Herb Dean recently reflected on his career and noted some of the most bizarre incidents that have happened during his time in the fight game.
Dean has been officiating MMA for over two decades now and is regarded by some to be one the best in the sport. That said, he has also faced criticism during his career. Like many referees, he is often targeted by fans or the media if they believe he has made an incorrect call.
Dean recently made an appearance on The Casuals MMA podcast to discuss his career and was asked whether or not any of his refereeing decisions have led to him receiving threats from fighters.
The referee then revealed that former UFC star Chuck Liddell would often make threats before a fight to avoid bad calls:
"Chuck Liddell used to try to make pre-emptive threats, like, 'I saw what happened with this fight earlier on that you did'...and, 'If you do that to me, I'm whooping your a**.'"
Catch Herb Dean's comments here (18:37):