Do not mess with old referee Herb Decan in the cage.
Herb Dean is known as one of the experienced presence of the UFC industry corner that goes back almost three decades. Dean is usually in the center of some of the largest UFC fights in the history of the promotion, including the notorious UFC 229 headliner between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Conor McGregor.
Dean made his UFC debut on UFC 47, headed by the light heavyweight resort between former teammates Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz. Liddell played Ortiz in the second round in one of the most iconic finishes in the UFC history.
Only a few months before he started his famous UFC officer, Dean was a dangerous hunter who competed in regional promotions. Although Dean is best known for his official term of office, he was a dangerous hunter during his five-hour professional career.
Photo by Luke Hales/Getty images
Herb Dean was a solid MMA hunter before he started the legendary official career
Dean looked back from an annoying knock -out loss to future UFC hunter Joe Riggs by watching Tim Mendoza on King of the Cage 39 in August 2004. Dean and Mendoza collided in a heavyweight fight with two promising prospects.
Dean wasted little time to control Mendoza in the cage and started a conflict for a few seconds in the fight. Dean landed a large Takedown on Mendoza before he landed a few devastating ground and pounds that surprised his opponent early.
Mendoza was visibly exhausted after round 1 because of Dean's ruthless pressure and wrestling. In the second round, Dean did not let go of the accelerator pedal.
Dean oppressed Mendoza with a large leg kick that badly staggered the heavyweight prospect. Halfway through the round, Dean started a Thai clinch before landing a brutal knee to the chin of Mendoza.
Dean would finish the fight with a nasty left hook that Mendoza dropped against the cage before the referee entered to stop the fight.
View Dean under which the finish is secured.
18 years ago today, Herb Dean took his last professional victory as a hunter. He defeated Timothy Mendoza via TKO. pic.twitter.com/88FBRAKVPBBBBB
– MMA Mania (@Mmamania) August 6, 2022
Deans victory over Mendoza would be the last victory of his professional MMA career before he dropped successive fights to Choi Jung-Gyu and Dave Legeno. Dean suffered a considerable eye injury against Legeno who forced him to concentrate full -time on officer.
21 years later and Dean remains one of the most respected officials in MMA. But even the biggest referees such as Dean have slip-ups, as we saw last weekend at UFC 317.
Herb Dean was central to one of the greatest controversies of UFC 317
UFC Middleweight Gregory Rodrigues landed one of the most brutal knockouts of the year by completing Jack Hermansson on UFC 317. After the victory of Rodrigues, Hermanson underwent a considerable medical evaluation after he was cold for a few minutes.
Some top analysts, including Daniel Cormier, reprimand dean because they did not respond quickly enough to Hermanson who is eliminated cold. Rodrigues landed a late blow that was considered 'unnecessary' by viewers who watched the fight.
Dean was the subject of Intense criticism of Joe Rogan for his official performance during the victory of Merab Dvalishvili over Sean O'Malley at UFC 306. During the fight with five rounds, Dean begged Dvalishvili to 'works' at a higher output level while O'Malley on the site was on the site.
UFC CEO Dana White has also had his differences with Dean throughout their career, despite referring to Dean as the 'Golden Standard' of MMA offices.
The 54-year-old Dean does not slowly delay his official career and still trains in MMA during his downtime. After viewing Deans skills he showed in the clip above, hunters would be wise not to test him.