Muhammad Mokaev comes to Herb Dean's defense amid refereeing controversy
In a recent movie, Muhammad Mokaev has taken to social media to speak up in Herb Dean's defense following another scandal related to the latter's officiating.
Former UFC flyweight Muhammad Mokaev has just taken to X to hit back at all of Herb Dean's critics. The veteran MMA referee has drawn tremendous criticism for his officiating in recent fights, but Mokaev is of the opinion that Dean's detractors are overreacting. Furthermore, he affirmed his belief that Dean remains a top-tier referee.
Muhammad Mokaev disagrees with the criticism aimed at Herb Dean
The latest source of the MMA world's contempt for Herb Dean's officiating is UFC Fight Night 280, which took place this past Saturday. Dean served as the referee for the co-main event between Sharabutdin Magomedov and Michel Pereira. After suffering a knockdown in round one, 'Shara Bullet' found himself on his back with an aggressive Pereira pouncing on him with ground-and-pound. However, once Magomedov regained his bearings, he began pulling on Pereira's hair, which is illegal. Dean warned him twice, but did nothing to enforce the rules. Then, later in round three, Magomedov fouled Pereira again, this time with what appeared to be a blatant eye poke. Despite the number of fouls committed, Dean only issued another warning and did not take a point away from Magomedov.
His officiating was panned, and former two-division UFC champion Alex Pereira took to his Instagram stories to brand Dean a coward. However, ex-UFC flyweight Muhammad Mokaev, who reigns as the Brave FC flyweight champion, issued his own statement regarding Dean as a referee, and he went against the grain.
"Herb Dean is a top guy. Stop crying."
Herb Dean is a top guy
— Muhammad Mokaev (@muhammadmokaev) June 28, 2026
Stop crying
Before UFC Fight Night 280, Dean had also drawn criticism for not punishing Manel Kape for his eye pokes in round one at UFC Fight Night 279, where Kape defeated Kyoji Horiguchi via third-round TKO. The most uproar he drew, however, was for his failure to recognize the back-of-the-head shots that Ciryl Gane landed on 'Poatan' en route to his second-round TKO win at UFC Freedom 250. This enraged 'Poatan,' who became highly critical of Dean afterward, with many siding with his grievances over the officiating. Unfortunately, the controversy surrounding Dean's officiating is not recent.
He also drew backlash back in 2019, at UFC 229, for allowing Conor McGregor to commit multiple fouls, like fence-grabbing and knees to the head of a grounded opponent, in the Irishman's lightweight title grudge match with then 155-pound champion Khabib Nurmagomedov, who later submitted 'The Notorious' in round four.
