Herb Dean Defends ‘Action’ Calls: Warning to Sean O’Malley’s Coach

Herb Dean was not doing anything extraordinary during the bout between Sean O’Malley and Merab Dvalishvili like he always does. That is what the experienced referee has to say when coming under criticism for allegedly pressurizing the fighters to remain active during the UFC 306 Main Event especially when Dvalishvili took O’Malley down.

Herb Dean clarified that he was doing his job perfectly. The job of the referee is to remind fighters to stay busy while they are grappling on the ground. Dean also did the same, even though he discussed the same issue with every fighter before the fight in a meeting.

Herb Deen On Helen Yee Sports

Dvalishvili used his grappling skills and was able to take down O’Malley six times and dominated the fight for more than ten minutes, winning through unanimous decision. There was also some tension between Dvalishvili and O’Malley’s trainer, Tim Welch, during the match and if Dean had not interrupted it would have been much worse. It was pointed out by Herb Dean, he was stressing referees’ need to maintain order between the fighters, yet let the fighters express their character. Herb Dean recently appeared on Helen Yee Sports and said this.

“I’ve seen on social media, people have spoken about me calling the fighters for more action. That’s what I’ve always done. I can tell you what I tell the fighters during the rules briefing. I tell them any time I’m going to interfere or any intervention, I’m going to talk to you first.

“Like if I’m going to [stand you up], what I’m going to say first, I’m going to say, ‘Let’s work,’ I usually clap and what I’m expecting from him is not busy work. I specify. I’m looking for effort to finish the fight.”

Herb Dean Stopping The fight

Merab Dvalishvili not only scored many takedowns but also impressive punches straight to the face, he dominated O’Malley in five rounds and outworked the latter for more than a dozen minutes. And when it was all settled down, Dvalishvili won by unanimous decision and became the UFC Bantamweight Champion. Before the fight, Dvalishvili launched an angry confrontation in the cage toward O’Malley’s corner, initiated by Tim Welch.

Dvalishvili had already complained about Welch that he was causing a lot of problems during the fight not only this time but when his friend Aljamain Sterling suffered a loss to O’Malley in August 2023. He said the same thing was happening when the fight with O’Malley started but thankfully Herb Dean immediately stopped both corners from colliding.

Final Thoughts

Herb Dean has been a referee for a long time and has a lot of experience in the sports. He performed extraordinarily well in the previous event. The coach’s job is to coach his fighter and let him know about his weak points.

But O’Malley’s coach seemed like he was more focused on trash-talking rather than his job, which was pointed out by Aljaimain Sterling and Merab Dvalishvili himself. What are your thoughts about the performance of Herb Dean? Feel free to use the comment section to share your thoughts.

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