Former champions slam controversial refereeing in UFC 306 title fight… ‘It was almost like he had money on O’Malley’
For the most part, UFC 306 at The Sphere went off without a hitch; although there was some controversy in the main event of the evening as referee Herb Dean continued to warn Merab Dvalishvili that he needed to remain active.
Such commands from the veteran official wouldn’t normally cause such an outrage, but those warnings at UFC 306 were issued even when the Georgian was either throwing strikes or trying to move into more dominant positions.
Referee Herb Dean under fire for ‘work’ commands at UFC 306
On multiple occasions during the UFC 306 title fight between Sean O’Malley and Merab Dvalishvili, referee Herb Dean warned that they needed to keep fighting as he suspected the Georgian was trying to stall the action – even when he wasn’t.
Those commands were met with confusion and criticism from the UFC commentators, with Jon Anik and Joe Rogan even calling the warnings ‘insane’ and ‘crazy’ as the Georgian ran away with the contest.
Former UFC fighter Kenny Florian would even suggest that the calls from Dean held “some level of bias” towards O’Malley, a sentiment that was echoed by two fellow UFC legends earlier today – albeit with much harsher words for the veteran official.
TJ Dillashaw and Quinton Jackson debate controversial refereeing
As they broke down the UFC 306 show via the Jaxxon Podcast, former light heavyweight champion Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson and former bantamweight king TJ Dillashaw couldn’t believe what they were seeing as Dean tried to intervene over and over again.
“It’s complete bulls***, you can’t tell two fighters to work when they’re on their feet,” stated Dillashaw, who became increasingly irritated with the officiating as the replay continued.
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“I could run circles if I wanted to, you can’t tell me to go and work… It’s not like I’m stalling against the cage, we’re striking – and you’re telling me to work, like I might run into something now ’cause you’re coaching me on how I am supposed to fight; the ref shouldn’t be involved like that.”
“I thought it was very f**** weird, it was almost like he had money on O’Malley… Like he wanted Merab to keep going so O’Malley could catch him with something – it was weird.”
Jackson would then suggest that following five straight fights ending via decision, UFC President Dana White might have been forced to have a quiet word with the referee before the UFC 306 main event started.
“I think that Dana White probably put a lot of pressure on him because some of those fights were boring and the referees can control that a little bit when they’re stalling.
“They’re at The Sphere, there’s been a couple of boring fights and Dana White probably says, ‘Hey we need this fight to be exciting’ and this fight here has the potential to be very boring.”
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“That makes sense if we’re on the ground,” countered Dillashaw, who noted that in all his years competing at the highest level of mixed martial arts, he’d never seen a referee intervening over such an obvious error.
“If I am in your guard and we’re not doing s***, ‘Let’s work or I’m going to stand you up’ but what do you do on the feet? I’ve never seen any referee do that.”
UFC fighters do have the right to request certain referees not officiate their bouts, with Merab Dvalishvili’s next fight likely coming against 18-0 contender Umar Nurmagomedov.
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