Officer comes out in defense of referee after controversy with Alex Poatan: "You have my full confidence" — Jiu-Jitsu Federation, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation

Jiu-Jitsu Federation: The controversy surrounding referee Herb Dean's performance in Alex Poatan's loss to Ciryl Gane at the UFC White House co-main event continues to reverberate within the fighting community. Now, it was the turn of Andy Foster – executive director of the California Athletic Commission – to address the alleged fault committed by the refereeing professional in not interrupting or punishing the French fighter for the illegal blows applied to the back of the head of the Brazilian during the combat on June 14th. And, as expected, the leader chose to compromise the situation.

In an interview with the website ‘MMA Fighting’, Andy Foster came out in defense of Herb Dean and minimized the importance of the error made by the referee in the final result of the dispute between Poatan and Gane, which was worth the UFC interim heavyweight belt. It is worth remembering that the schedules of the referees and side judges of the shows promoted by Ultimate are in charge of the athletic commissions – bodies responsible for regulating the sporting events held in their places of operation.

“The issue of the fight between Gane and Pereira, I was there. I saw it all happening live. That didn't seem anything out of the ordinary to me. I think that whole sequence started with the coup that took down Pereira. No doubt some of those blows ended up hitting the back of the head. The question is, what do you do in this situation? Do you stop the action? Because I don't think many referees would do this, if any, especially in a fight of this level. What do you do in a situation like this? Tell me you've never seen anything like it before, ”pondered the director of the California Athletic Commission.

Total confidence

More than just trying to absolve Herb Dean of any blame for Alex Poatan's defeat at the UFC White House, Foster reinforced his confidence in the referee's ability to continue to perform his role, ignoring the campaign initiated by the Brazilian fighter to have the professional removed from service. For the leader, it would not be fair to dismiss the mediator from his job because of the criticism he suffered after the controversy of June 14.

“Whether it's Herb Dean, Marc Goddard, or anyone else who has received this kind of criticism, I don't think that's fair. And it doesn't even have to be. Being a referee is not a fair job. I think Herb Dean is a good referee, and you will continue to see Herb Dean in the main fights of my upcoming UFC events because he is the most experienced referee in California. Herb Dean has my full confidence, ”she concluded.

Recall the controversy

After taking the worst of the first round against Ciryl Gane at the UFC White House co-main event, Alex Poatan returned for the second, seemingly more aggressive round, trying to make his opponent go backwards. However, when walking forward and trying to corner the rival, the striker from São Paulo ended up suffering a ‘knockdown’ after being caught by a match jab thrown by the Frenchman.

With the Brazilian shaken by the blow, Gane went up and started a wave of attacks against Poatan's head, who clung to the Frenchman's leg in order to stop the duel. Many of these blows launched by Ciryl, however, were destined never for Alex – an area protected by the rules and in which one cannot reach a opponent.

Even within a few yards of the move and with full vision for the situation, referee Herb Dean completely ignored the infractions committed by Ciryl Gane and let the match proceed. Quite shaken, including by the dangerous blows to the back of the head, Alex Poatan managed to get up, but ended up losing by technical knockout after suffering another wave of attacks from the French rival, this time without any illegal blows connected.

Sequence of controversies

The emblematic case of the Poatan vs Gane confrontation at the UFC White House was not the only controversial episode that revolves around Herb Dean's refereeing. In the last few weeks alone, the referee has been the target of attacks and criticism in at least three different fights, disputed, curiously, in three consecutive Ultimate events.

The following week of the UFC White House, on the card ‘Vegas 119’, Herb was the referee of the duel between Vinícius‘ LokDog ’and Andre Fili, won by the former. however, after being defeated, the American athlete went to the professional to complain of elbows applied by the Brazilian. In the conversation with Dean, the United States fighter claimed that the Tupiniquim representative would have hit him with elbows on the back of the head – a region in which, by the set of rules of MMA, it is forbidden to connect blows, being the same complaint of Poatan, a week earlier.

Finally, at the latest UFC event hosted in Baku, Azerbaijan, Herb Dean was widely criticized for his performance in the ‘co-main event’ of the show, disputed between Michel Pereira and Shara Magomedov. This is because, during the fight, the Russian athlete repeatedly pulled the hair of the ‘Flying Paraense’, in addition to subsequently applying a fingerprint to the Brazilian's eye. Despite the infractions, ‘Bullet’, as it is known, was not penalized by the referee – only being warned verbally.

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