Henry Cejudo thinks it’s long past time that Herb Dean stopped refereeing.
For the past few years, and certainly for much of 2026, referee Herb Dean has come under fire from fans and fighters for what many view as poor performances while refereeing fights. That continued this past weekend at UFC 332, when Dean had another controversial performance, stopping the Esteban Ribovics vs. King Green fight after Green was knocked down for the third time, though seemingly still lucid and capable of defending himself.
Green immediately protested the stoppage, though not too vociferously, and UFC CEO Dana White said afterward that Dean is “having a rough f*cking year,” though he thought the stoppage wasn’t terrible.
But Cejudo disagrees. Speaking on his Pound 4 Pound podcast, Cejudo called for Dean to be removed by athletic commissions.
“That dude has just been — f*ck, man. It’s ridiculous. It’s ridiculous that the Nevada State Athletic Commission, that he still even has a job, in my opinion. Nobody likes this dude no more. Nobody! They show him on camera, he’s getting booed. It’s ridiculous. No accountability whatsoever. It’s a f*cking mafia.”
Once viewed as one of the gold standards of the profession, Dean is now regularly booed by fans when he is announced to be working a fight. And Dean has had a controversial 2026, most famously refereeing the UFC White House fight between Ciryl Gane and Alex Pereira, which many fans believe Gane cheated to win, by landing several blows to the back of the head.
But Dean also had another gaff just last week, not intervening after Ian Escuza landed a blatantly illegal knee to the head of a grounded opponent against Luca Borando. After bringing in replay review, Dean and the other referees allowed Escuza’s win to stand, saying the illegal strike did not affect the outcome of the fight, triggering an uproar from many fans and media members. And that was front and center in Cejudo’s mind.
“I get that. I get what you’re saying,” Cejudo said when Usman noted that Dean has to look out for the fighters and sometimes fighters don’t want what’s best for their safety. “That is a tough job. I’m not so mad at this one. Maybe I am just picking on Herb Dean, but the last time, at last week’s Contender Series, where that dude gets f*cking kneed to the f*cking head, and this dude doesn’t have the balls.
“You should have stopped it right then when he got kneed. That fight would have been a No Contest, and that dude would have not gotten that. The Poatan — it’s just endless, dude. I think he just needs to take a break from fighting. That’s all. He needs to step aside.”
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VIDEO STEW
On to the Next One.
UFC 332 post-fight show.
UFC 332 post-event scrums.
DWCS behind the scenes with Paddy Pimblett.
The Volk and Izzy show(s).
Aljo reacts to UFC 332.
SOCIAL MEDIA BOUILLABAISSE
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FINAL THOUGHTS
Herb’s stoppage in Green vs. Ribovics was fine. I think Herb is not a very good ref anymore, and I’m almost always in favor of letting one more clean shot come in, but you get dropped three times in a round and fall like that, you can’t be upset about the stoppage.
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