Merab Dvalishvili accuses referee Herb Dean of affecting his performance in controversy-riddled Noche UFC title fight
Merab Dvalishvili recently addressed the controversy surrounding referee Herb Dean's involvement in his title fight against Sean O'Malley at UFC 306 last weekend. 'The Machine' said that Dean's interference affected his performance in the final round after rewatching the whole fight.
For context, Dean hit Dvalishvili with a stern warning early in the opening round of his fight at The Sphere in Las Vegas. The veteran referee wasn't pleased to see Dvalishvili pick a quarrel with O'Malley's coach outside the cage while the fight was on and warned him to stop.
Dean also asked Dvalishvili to show more activity in the final round during a grappling exchange. It appears this threw the Georgian-born fighter off his game and affected his dominant position. Nevertheless, Dvalishvili beat O'Malley via unanimous decision to be crowned the UFC's new bantamweight king.
In a recent X post, Dvalishvili addressed Dean's actions and how they affected his game plan:
"Still, respect for Herb Dean. I tweet before about how great a job he did reffing my fight when he stopped the callouts from O'Malley's team and when he told me to cut the kissing. I finally watched the fight, though, and he definitely affected my 5th round."
Dvalishvili continued:
"I had O'Malleys back in a good position and giving damage with knees. But Herb kept telling me to work. So I switched my position, and he told again - work. I let go again and lost my dominant position. I was waiting for Sean to work so I could punch his face or grab the submission."
Merab Dvalishvili talks future fight plans after bantamweight title win at UFC 306
In the aftermath of his dominant victory over Sean O'Malley, Dvalishvili opened up about his future plans and admitted that he's a "company man" who's ready to fight any opponent. In a recent post on X, he called for anyone, regardless of the strength of their title claims, and wrote:
"Guys - I hear all of you! I am a company man. Whoever the UFC puts in front of me, I will fight as I always do, even if I don't think they deserve the next shot. Let's Go."