Herb Dean under fire after foul-marred UFC Baku main event
Veteran referee Herb Dean is drawing heavy criticism for his handling of multiple fouls during the UFC Baku main event between Shara Magomedov and Michel Pereira.
Magomedov grabbed Pereira's hair while defending ground strikes in the opening round, then landed a blatant eye poke midway through the third, according to MMA Mania. Dean stopped the action both times but issued warnings rather than point deductions. The decision left Magomedov with a 29-28 split decision win that would have been a draw had Dean taken a point for either foul.
Hair pull changed momentum in first round
Pereira dropped the Russian with a counter right hand early in the fight and moved into guard, where he landed punches and elbows in pursuit of a finish. Magomedov grabbed his hair to control posture and avoid damage, per the report. Dean intervened and gave Magomedov time to recover instead of docking a point. "There's never been an accidental hair pull," MMA Mania's Andrew Richardson wrote in his post-fight breakdown.
The second violation came in the third round when Magomedov poked Pereira in the eye. Dean again halted the bout and issued a warning. Broadcast commentary noted Magomedov was repeatedly extending his fingers forward in an illegal manner that officials supposedly would not tolerate.
Marc Goddard also came under scrutiny for a late stoppage when Nursulton Ruziboev choked Andrey Pulyaev unconscious in a middleweight bout. Goddard allowed the choke to continue after Pulyaev went limp, resulting in what Richardson described as an insane photo of the sleeping Russian.
The issues stretched beyond the marquee matchups. Hometown fighter Tahir Abdullayev received a ground-and-pound TKO over Jefferson Nascimento for strikes that reportedly did not land particularly hard. Dean has now drawn criticism in three consecutive weeks for officiating decisions, with no sign of the stricter enforcement UFC brass has promised in recent months.
Original reporting:
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