Andy Foster is standing behind Herb Dean after the latest round of criticism tied to Alex Pereira vs. Ciryl Gane. In a new full interview, the California State Athletic Commission executive director explained why he did not view Dean’s handling of the UFC White House finish as a major officiating failure.
The stoppage has stayed alive because Pereira has continued to argue that Gane landed illegal shots to the back of the head before the TKO. Big John McCarthy recently connected Dean’s rough patch to commission pressure, while Charles Oliveira also questioned why Dean did not step in during the sequence.
Foster watched the exchange in real time and framed the key moment around the knockdown that started Gane’s finishing burst.
The thing with Gane and Pereira, I was there. I was watching that in real time. That didn’t look anything different … that looked like a normal fight to me. That looked like a normal fight. I think what started that series was the punch that put [Pereira] on the ground. I know that’s what started that series. He’s obviously trying to finish him. [Pereira] is trying to get back in the fight.
There was no doubt a few of them got through and hit [the back of the head]. The question is what do you do in that situation? Do you stop the action? Because I don’t think many referees would have, if any, certainly at the high level. What do you do with that situation? Tell me that’s not something that you’ve seen before. I think what started that series was the knockdown. That was the case.
Herb Dean just responded to Alex Pereira with a video explaining the “Back of the Head” rule 👀
(via @HerbDeanMMA) https://t.co/9y2IDPgdq7 pic.twitter.com/lpPmwx2FBA
— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) June 16, 2026
Foster Says Dean Still Has His Confidence
Pereira’s loss to Gane has already fed several follow-up angles, including Conor McGregor telling Pereira to move on from the Gane result. Foster’s position is more direct: he believes Dean was trapped in a difficult live sequence where a pause could have changed the outcome.
Foster also separated Dean’s situation from more obvious foul calls, saying referees may need to move faster when the foul is egregious.
I told Herb, in my view, you don’t want to warn a lot of times. At some point, you’ve got to take the point. Now, flip that to the way Jason Herzog handled it was Urijah [Faber’s] fighter this weekend [Wang Cong threw an illegal knee] and Jason Herzog was absolutely correct and took a point right away. I think we’ve got to probably get more towards that for the more egregious fouls. That was a pretty egregious foul. That’s a foul in 2001 and that’s a foul in 2026. I think he handled that the correct way.
Referees probably need to give their first warning in the back, and I know many, many of them do. But to your point directly, whether it’s Herb or Marc Goddard or anybody that’s received some of this criticism, I don’t think it’s really fair. It doesn’t have to be fair. Being a referee’s not fair. I think Herb Dean’s a good referee and you’ll see Herb Dean on the main event of my upcoming UFC’s because Herb Dean is the senior referee in California. Herb Dean has my full confidence.
A Rule Change Could Follow
Foster also pointed toward new foul language that would move away from the usual intentional-versus-unintentional split. His preferred framework would sort fouls into incidental, reckless, and malicious categories.
It’s going to probably going to look like something like incidental, reckless or malicious. With malicious being just about as bad as you can get. Like biting someone or something. You’re not going to see that much. Incidental will be not to do it and reckless will be essentially more like your eye pokes. You know how they extend their fingers? You may see some points getting taken from reckless type actions.
That leaves Dean with public backing from one of the sport’s most important regulators, even if Pereira and many fans still see the Gane sequence differently. The official result remains a TKO win for Gane, and Foster’s answer makes clear that the commission is focused more on clarifying future foul calls than revisiting that finish.
