Herb Dean To Officiate UFC 162: Silva Vs. Weidman Main Event

Herb Dean has been tapped to officiate the main event during UFC 162: Silva vs. Weidman.

The Nevada State Athletic Commission designated Dean as the referee for the headline bout Friday. Officials also named Adalaide Byrd, Marcos Rosales and Patricia Morse Jarman as the fight’s judges.

UFC 162 will take place July 6 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

The assignment will come as a relief to UFC president Dana White, who recently spoke out about referee Steve Mazzagatti’s failure to stop a match between Josh Burkman and John Fitch during a World Series of Fighting 3 event last month.

“Does anyone disagree with me that Mazzagatti’s a f***ing toolbox?  I mean he literally did nothing,” White said after the match. “Literally when (Fitch) goes limp, he goes limp, he’s out and then (Burkman) rolls him f***ing over, lets his head f***ing flop to the thing and then stands up over him.  He’s literally like this standing up over him before Mazzagatti even f***ing gets in the picture.”

Mazzagatti is a go-to for the NSAC when it comes to fights in the state, which assigns referees to each individual match. The UFC has no say in which ref officiates a bout.

“The Nevada State Athletic Commission is going to keep this f***ing guy around until he seriously hurt somebody. That guy is dangerous.  He’s dangerous,” White said. “It’s disgusting. At what point do you realize that this guy is an incompetent fool and he’s going to hurt somebody?”

Dean, however, was praised by White as the best referred in the business after his stoppage in a bout between Mike Swick and Paulo Thiago at UFC 109.

“When Herb Dean does sh*t, I don’t even question it anymore,” White said. “I wait for the replay. This guy sees sh*t that I can’t see sitting there watching the monitor.”

Do you think Herb Dean was a good pick to officiate Silva vs. Weidman?