Herb Dean Net Worth

About Herb Dean

Dean was the referee for the highly anticipated rematch between Tito Ortiz and Ken Shamrock that took place at UFC 61 on July 8, 2006, which was hosted in Las Vegas. The referee, Dean, stepped in at 1 minute and 18 seconds into the first round and stopped the bout after Ortiz delivered several straight unanswered elbows to the head of Shamrock. This resulted in Ortiz winning by technical knockout (TKO). The decision was met with instant opposition from Shamrock, who could be seen to be fuming. Despite this, it was not reversed, and Shamrock was escorted out of the Octagon as a result.

A rematch between Ortiz and Shamrock took place during Ortiz vs. Shamrock 3: The Final Chapter, where Ortiz once again declared victory in a manner that was remarkably comparable to how he did so in the second fight, despite the fact that Shamrock did not contest this decision.

As a former competitor in mixed martial arts as well as a professional referee in the United States, he works for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). Dean has been referred to as the gold standard for referees in mixed martial arts (MMA) by the president of the UFC, Joe Rogan, the color commentator for the UFC, as well as articles covering MMA on ESPN.com, Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, SB Nation (mmamania.com), and Fightland, amongst other publications.

Dean has been named the World MMA Awards Referee of the Year by Fighters Only Magazine in each of the following years: 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2018, 2019 (–July 2020), and (July 2020–) 2021. However, Dean did not win the award in 2015, and “Big” John McCarthy did, making it the only time since the category was established that Dean did not win.

During the fight between Mirko Cro Cop and Gabriel Gonzaga that took place at UFC 70 on April 21, 2007, Dean served as the referee for the event. In the latter part of the first round, Dean took the fight back from the guard position, which is a tactic that is often employed to combat inactivity. Fight analysts disagree on whether Gonzaga was actually using ground and pound or whether he had just positioned his opponent against the cage to get an advantage. Some believe Gonzaga was using ground and pound. Gonzaga quickly ended the fight by knocking down Filipovi with a blow to the head shortly after the stand up.

After UFC 109 and UFC 160, the President of the UFC, Dana White, claimed that he believes that Dean “is widely regarded as one of the most competent referees in this industry. With point of fact, I believe that he is the best “in reference to the fact that he ended the battle between Mike Swick and Paulo Thiago by stopping it. He continued by saying that once Dean stopped the fight between Mir and Sylvia, he never doubts Dean again.

In the fight between Khalid Murtazaliev and C. B. Dollaway that took place at UFC Fight Night: Hunt vs. Oleinik, Dean received a great deal of backlash for the late stoppage that he called during his duties as a referee. After the game, a number of supporters turned to Twitter to voice their disapproval of the stoppage, drawing parallels between it and a recent late stoppage that was called by another referee named Mario Yamasaki.

After Dean gave Ben Askren the victory over Robbie Lawler by way of a bulldog choke at UFC 235, UFC president Dana White voiced his displeasure with the referee’s decision. At the event UFC on ESPN: Whittaker vs. Till, Dean was subjected to additional criticism for his late stoppage of a fight between Francisco Trinaldo and Jai Herbert. As a result of the stoppage, Dean got into a confrontation with UFC analyst and former fighter Dan Hardy.