Herb Dean addresses handling of oddities in Merab Dvalishvili vs. Sean O’Malley at UFC 306

It’s rare for MMA referees to speak about their job performance or provide explanations about their actions in the cage. However, veteran referee Herb Dean is one of the few.

Dean came under fire by people on social media and even UFC commentators Joe Rogan and Daniel Cormier for several of his actions while officiating Merab Dvalishvili vs. Sean O’Malley bantamweight title fight – which headlined UFC 306 at Sphere in Las Vegas on Sept. 14.

It was a fight in which Dvalishvili defeated O’Malley but had several odd occurrences.

For starters, in the first few seconds, Dvalishvili (18-4 MMA, 11-2 UFC) and O’Malley’s corner man, Tim Welch, were yelling at each other as the fight was going on. Dean stopped the action and ordered Welch to cut it out.

“I’m not here to be anyone’s parent or anything, and we want people’s personalities to be able to shine. That’s what makes our sport fun,” Dean told Helen Yee when asked about ordering Welch to stop addressing Dvalishvili. “We have some great personalities, but there is a rule that the seconds (cornermen) are not to interfere in the fight, and that includes trying to influence the referee. It specifies that, and you definitely can’t influence the other fighter or distract them. Your job is to coach the fighter, and my job is to do something about it.”

It looks like Sean O’Malley’s coach, Tim Welch, was back to his old tricks against Merab Dvalishvili 🫣😅#UFC306 #NocheUFC pic.twitter.com/glYtUscjaf

— UFC on TNT Sports (@ufcontnt) September 15, 2024

Although some took issue with Dean policing Welch’s trash-talking tactics, Dean said he was well within his right to act on it.

“It happens, and we do address it,” Dean explained. “It’s been happening as long as the sports have been here, you know what I mean. Even coaching the referee through the fighter, ‘OK, Herb is going to stand you up because all he wants to do is hold you, and he’s a boring, b*tch ass wrestler,’ and you know they try to coach me through coaching their fighter, and we know it. If it gets to be too much, we’ll say, ‘Hey, that’s a little excessive.’ It’s in the rules, and that’s what the rule is for.”

Not long after the bizarre trash-talking incident, another occurred.

At the end of Round 2, Dvalishvili had O’Malley (18-2 MMA, 10-2 UFC)  in a front headlock against the cage and decided to kiss O’Malley’s back multiple times before letting him go and walking away in the final seconds. An upset O’Malley stood up and swung at a distracted Dvalishvili before the bell rang.

Dean also interfered but this time issued a warning to Dvalishvili.

“Yes, yes, and that falls under sportsmanlike conduct. It does.” Dean said regarding the kisses. “Abusive language and things like that you’re not supposed to do.”

Merab with the mid-fight kiss…#UFC306 | @RiyadhSeason | #NocheUFC pic.twitter.com/UWU69CJEWt

— UFC_AUSNZ (@UFC_AUSNZ) September 15, 2024

Toward the end of the bout, Dean kept telling Dvalishvili to work as he was moving away from O’Malley, who was looking to land a big shot and not let the fight go to the judges’ scorecards.

Many took issue with Dean’s comments calling for action, especially Rogan, who voiced his disapproval on the broadcast.

“I’ve seen on social media people have spoken on me about calling the fighters to do more action, and that’s what I’ve always done,” Dean said. “I can tell you what I tell fighters in the rules briefing, I tell them anytime that I’m going to have an intervention, I’m going to talk to you first. If I’m going to stand you up, I’m going to say, ‘Let’s work,’ or I’ll clap.

“That means that what I’m expecting is not busy work, I’m looking for effort to finish the fight. So you either posture or you can potentially set up fight ending attacks or advance your position or effort to advance, or pass the position … That rule was put in, standing up, to make our sport look like we want it to look.”