SerpApi.Org
Conor McGregor’s long-awaited UFC comeback was overshadowed by unexpected drama after a referee was removed from officiating his fight at the last minute.
Veteran referee Herb Dean was originally scheduled to officiate one of the UFC’s biggest main events of the year before being replaced at the last minute.
According to fellow veteran official John McCarthy, Dean had been assigned to oversee the UFC 329 headline bout between McGregor and Max Holloway on July 11, only for the Nevada State Athletic Commission to switch him out in favor of Mike Beltran. McCarthy claimed the late decision was made to protect Dean after weeks of criticism surrounding his recent performances.
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"Even the athletic commissions, you know, Herb [Dean] was part of UFC 329, but you saw that he didn’t have a whole lot of fights, and he didn’t have any of the bigger fights," McCarthy said on a recent episode of the Weighing In podcast.
"They actually brought Mike Beltran in. Mike wasn’t scheduled to do that fight, and he ended up doing the Conor fight.
"That’s the athletic commission not punishing Herb but trying to take care of Herb.
"They’re trying to put him in a position to say, 'Hey, just go do what you can do. Be the referee we know you can be and just go do your job, and we don’t want you to have any of the real high-pressure fights right now. Just get through this event and let’s get things going in the right direction.'"
Instead, the veteran referee was limited to officiating Cody Garbrandt’s bout with Adrian Yanez and Cory Sandhagen’s clash against Mario Bautista at UFC 329.
Despite his reputation for handling the promotion’s highest-profile contests, Dean was notably absent from both the main and co-main events.
Dean's officiating has come under increasing scrutiny following a number of controversial decisions, including criticism from former UFC champion Alex Pereira after his UFC Freedom 250 defeat to Ciryl Gane on June 14 and Michel Pereira’s disputed loss to Shara Magomedov at UFC Baku on June 27.
Dean was also met with a hostile response from fans in Las Vegas, with loud boos ringing around the arena when he was introduced for his assignments at UFC 329.
Rather than dismissing the criticism, McCarthy said that Dean has been reflecting on his performances and assessing whether adjustments to his officiating style are needed. “Herb is doing the right thing,” McCarthy added.
“He’s looking at the way he officiates. He’s looking at, ‘Are people starting to read that? You know what? I am a little lenient, and I don’t like to affect the fight. Maybe I’m going to start affecting the fight more.’
"He’s looking at all those things just like he should, and that’s just part of the growing process of being an official."
