- Herb Dean recounted being threatened by Chuck Liddell and punched by Daniel Cormier
- The veteran official said there’s beef amongst UFC referees sometimes
Herb Dean opened up about beef within UFC referees and looked back at his epic moment with Chuck Liddell and Daniel Cormier.
Some fighters threaten Herb
Speaking to The Casuals MMA, the longtime UFC referee revealed that part of his job was to be hated by some fighters due to questionable calls and decisions. Citing an example, Dean vividly recalled how Liddell would come to events and threaten him.
“Probably some. Chuck Liddell used to try to make preemptive threats, like, ‘I saw what happened with this fight earlier on that you did.’ He used to be after the show after he’d been partying, he’s coming back in, and, ‘If you do that to me, I’m whooping your a**,'” Dean remembered.
Dean once took a punch from DC
It can be recalled that Jon Jones made it seem like the fight was over during his first light heavyweight title fight with Cormier with about 10 seconds left and threw a punch at DC. As expected, Cormier was mad and frustrated. He punched “Bones” but also ended up hitting Dean as well.
Looking back, Dean said Cormier quickly admitted that he didn’t intend to punch him
“He says it wasn’t on purpose. I think he was so frustrated, he would just want to hit me because it was a frustrating moment… The punch hit Jon first and then hit me,” Dean recalled.
Some UFC referees are competitive
Dean also made a shocking revelation about how UFC referees get along with each other. According to Herb, some referees are competitive while others backstab other referees.
“We’re all friends… actually, but some of them you know it’s a competitive thing. Because… people want to do this so it’s competitive sometimes. [There’s] backstabbing. I’m not going to tell you who… sometimes there’s beef,” Dean revealed.
Dean has been an MMA referee for over 20 years. Some fans may have criticized him in the past over some questionable calls but he is still considered as one of the best and most recognizable referees in MMA history.
Watch Dean’s full podcast interview episode below:
