He might be the second most famous referee in MMA behind John McCarthy, but many consider Herb Dean to be the best.
His calm demeanour while trying to keep order during some of the sport’s most intense fights has become a signature occurrence for all the big UFC events of the modern era.
At one time Herb Dean was the centre of the MMA world’s attention when he stopped a UFC heavyweight title fight between Tim Sylvia and Andrei Arlovski when he saw Sylvia’s arm break. Sylvia would protest the stoppage but further testing would reveal he did in fact have a broken arm. It was the first time the world really focussed on him, and the decision he made to stop the bout before Sylvia’s arm received even more damage.
He’s refereed some of the biggest fights in MMA history, and at 46 years of age he still has plenty of time to referee many more.
Here are five facts you probably didn’t know about Herb Dean…
5. He’s Fought Professional
Herb Dean has 5 professional fights on his record, with a career record of 2W-3L.
He had already been refereeing for 2 years when he had his first pro fight in 2001. The event was Gladiators Challenge 6 in Colusa, CA. Dean had a very successful pro debut, earning the submission victory (front choke) in just 43 seconds.
In his next pro bout, Joe Riggs made him submit to punches in under a minute. Dean would continue to fight even as he began refereeing in UFC bouts. In 2007, at the age of 37, Herb finally called it a career.
He trained with the Submission Factory in L.A.
