Herb Dean is being paid just $1900 to officiate Conor McGregor vs Dustin Poirier 3 at UFC 264
Ace UFC referee Herb Dean will officiate the much-awaited trilogy fight between Conor McGregor and Dustin Poirier on July 10, 2021.
In a meeting held on Wednesday, July 7, the Nevada State Athletic Commission approved executive director Bob Bennett's recommendation to assign Herb Dean as the referee for the UFC 264 main event.
However, despite the high-profile nature of the fight, Herb Dean is getting paid only $1900 to officiate the bout.
Also read: How much money do UFC referees make?
The NSAC also announced the names of the three judges who will be cageside during Saturday's headliner. Sal D'Amato, Derek Cleary, and Junichiro Kumijo will score the five-round lightweight contest. The judges will make $1600 each.
ESPN's Marc Raimondi reported on the pay in a tweet and made a comparison with what the officials of the Tyson Fury vs Deontay Wilder boxing match were set to make.
Mike Ortega, the referee, was going to have a $10,000 payday, while the judges, Tim Cheatham, Dave Moretti, and Patricia Morse Jarman were set to make $8,000 each, per Raimondi.
The heavyweight championship fight between Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder, which was scheduled to take place on July 24 has now been postponed due to a COVID-19 outbreak in Fury's camp. 'Gypsy King' himself has also contracted the virus.
"We continue to monitor the health status of Tyson [Fury] and his team, and the status of the event has not changed to date," Fury's promoter Top Rank said in a statement on Thursday.
ESPN was the first to report the news of the postponement.
Herb Dean expected more, but isn't surprised
The veteran referee commented under a post on the matter shared by online media company Haymakers.
"I didn't know how much I expected Herb Dean to be making for Saturday’s main event, but it was certainly more than $1,900," the caption of the post read.
Underneath the post, Herb Dean commented that he too was expecting to get paid more for the fight, but after spending two decades in the industry, the amount does not surprise him. He compared the pay with what boxing referees would make for a fight of this stature.
"I was expecting more too but after refereeing fights for 20 years I’m not surprised. Boxing referees make around 25,000 for fights of this level. Don’t worry I’ve adjusted to it as it works for me," Herb Dean wrote.
