When the dust settles on fight night, the last thing fans want to be talking about is the third man in the cage.
And yet, far too often these days we find ourselves coming out of an event with the biggest talking point being some form of officiating gaffe. Case in point, veteran referee Dan Miragliotta became MMA’s main character this week after an inexplicable standup call that might have directly led to Tom Nolan defeating Renato Moicano in the UFC Vegas 123 main event.
Unfortunately for Miragliotta,
this has led to plenty of discussion as to whether he is the worst active referee in all of MMA. And if not him, then who?
Keeping in mind that officiating is a mostly thankless job where only the top names in the biggest shows make substantial pay, MMA Fighting’s Alexander K. Lee and Jed Meshew make their picks for the two referees who make fans and fighters the most nervous.
Herb Dean
Lee: Sorry, but “The Gold Standard” has become “The Mold Standard.”
To say Herb Dean has lost his fastball is really an insult to baseball pitchers who are still able to eat up innings with savvy and guile. Experience is no substitute for negligence, and Dean has exhibited much more of the latter than the former in recent years. I know fans still have a lot of affection for Dean as he was a familiar face during the UFC’s boom period and is still hanging around in the TKO world domination era, but at this point even the staunchest Dean supporter has to be loosening their grip on the past.
Remember that amazing stoppage he made when Frank Mir broke Tim Sylvia’s arm, saving Sylvia from further injury? That was great. It was also 22 years ago.
That’s not to say Dean hasn’t had his moments since, but what’s made him absolutely brutal to watch now is his inconsistency.
Sometimes he stops fights late.
Sometimes he stops fights out of nowhere.
He refuses to take points. He fakes out fighters, making them think he’s about to stop a fight, then backs off (hence another nickname, “Hokey Pokey Herb”). And heaven help any fighter that has to deal with Dean in a video review. Dean is lucky The Ultimate Fighter viewership isn’t what it used to be, because his egregious mishandling of the Xavier Franklin situation went mostly overlooked.
ICYMI: In the final minute of a tournament semifinal between Franklin and Ilimbek Akylbek Uulu, Dean stepped in to stop the action with Franklin delivering a finishing flurry and was clearly heard saying, “It’s over. The fight’s done.” However, Akylbek Uulu complained he was poked in the eye, so Dean decided to go to video review and later claimed he called for a timeout, not a stoppage. Franklin went on to lose on the cards.
In an interview with MMA Fighting, Franklin called Dean “a lying bastard.”
All of that is just the tip of the iceberg, as fighter after fighter has spoken out against Dean, who has been living off of his once-sterling reputation and past accomplishments. Imagine being an athlete stepping into the cage not knowing whether you can trust the referee to make the right decision with your career—and health—potentially in his hands. That’s the roll of the dice every fighter takes when they see Herb Dean’s name on the bout sheet.
Just for fun, here’s some additional reading:
Dan Miragliotta
Meshew: If we had debated this just a week ago, I would firmly be on board with AK’s breakdown. While Herb Dean may have once been the best referee in the sport (it’s true!), those days are long, LONG past. Every point AK brings against Mr. Dean is true, and I won’t pretend to argue against it. But I have a compelling counter-argument for who is truly the most hapless current referee:
I’ve been watching MMA for over 20 years, and that is the single worst piece of officiating I’ve ever seen. Even on a regional level, that would be egregious, much less in the biggest organization in the world. But you don’t have to take my word for it: basically every MMA person agrees.
And it might be different if this was a one-time occurrence. Any person can have a bad day at the office or a temporary moment of insanity. Those happen. But Dan Miragliotta has been a bad referee for many years at this point, as the bevy of “highlights” that cropped up on social media following the Moicano incident can show better than I could ever argue.
The last one is the real kicker: 25 minutes of poor performance. Yikes.
It should be acknowledged that being an MMA referee sucks. These men spend enormous amounts of time traveling to referee shows, and they’re making at most a couple grand per event. Don’t get me wrong, there are harder jobs, but it’s not like people are getting rich doing this, and I can’t imagine it’s the most fun to have people boo and hate you for simply trying to do your job the best you can.
But none of that excuses poor refereeing. Miragliotta is a professional, and professionals are expected to do their job, especially when failure to do so can negatively impact someone else. Maybe Tom Nolan beats Moicano anyway, but maybe he doesn’t, and we’ll never know because Miragliotta took that away from him, simultaneously taking the crown of “Worst Referee in MMA” away from Dean at the same time.
