After a lot of tension and trash talk, Khabib “The Eagle” faced Conor McGregor at UFC 229 in October 2018. Khabib won the fight in the fourth round by making McGregor tap out. But even though the fight ended, the excitement wasn’t over yet.
Right after his victory, Khabib jumped over the cage to go toward Dillon Danis, a friend of McGregor’s who was in his corner. Suddenly, everyone started fighting—both inside and outside the cage. This wild brawl led to both Khabib and McGregor getting banned for a while and having to pay fines because of all the chaos.
Herb Dean Reflects on the Craziness of the UFC 229 Braw
Herb Dean, the famous referee, was right in the middle of the action at UFC 229. Known as one of the best referees in MMA, Herb had a tough time keeping control of two superstars—Khabib and Conor—during their big fight.
There was lots of intense talk and both fighters wouldn’t let go at the end of rounds. Khabib even held onto his winning move a little longer than he was supposed to. Herb had to step in and pull him away, but Khabib wasn’t done—he jumped over the cage to go after someone else.
At that point, Herb knew it was out of his hands. There was too much going on for him to stop, and the big brawl became something no one could contain.
“When it first started, [Nurmagomedov’s] holding on to the choke. I get him to let go, he’s still on [McGregor],” Dean said on the JAXXON podcast.
“I’m kind of standing in between them, and then all of a sudden, he’s over talking at somebody else. I think I probably tried to chase him and tried to keep him from going out or something.
“Once it got to that point, I’m like, ‘This is beyond my job. This is everybody else’s job. My job is done.’”
Herb Dean Sets the Record Straight on UFC 306 Refereeing
Even though Dean is super great at what he does, some fans and commentators sometimes wonder if he makes the right choices during big moments.
Recently, Dean became a hot topic when Merab Dvalishvili won the bantamweight title by scoring points against Sean O’Malley over five rounds at UFC 306 in September.
Right at the start, Dean paused the fight to tell O’Malley’s corner to stop giving too many tips. Later, during the match, he had to step in again when Merab started giving O’Malley a funny kiss on the neck while holding him in a special move called a guillotine.
In the fifth round, some people thought Dean should have asked the fighters to do more, and the commentators were not very happy with that. But Dean has stood by all his choices from that exciting UFC 306 event.
“It happens, and we do address it and it’s been happening for as long as the sport’s been here.
“And even coaching the referee through the fighter, ‘Okay well Herb’s gonna stand you up because all he wants to do is hold you and he’s a boring b****-ass wrestler”
“I can tell you what I tell the fighters in the rules briefing. I tell them anytime I’m interfering or intervening, I’m gonna talk to you first like if I’m gonna stand it up and when I’m gonna say first, ‘Let’s work’. I usually clap and what I’m expecting from them is not busy work, I’ve specified.
“I’m looking for effort to finish the fight, so you’re either to posture to where you can potentially throw fight-ending attacks or advance your position. Those rules are there to make our sport look the way we want it to look.”
