Alexander Volkanovski Backs Alex Pereira’s Complaints Regarding Herb Dean’s Officiating at UFC Freedom 250

Alexander Volkanovski backs Alex Pereira's complaints after UFC Freedom 250 as the controversy around the TKO sequence grows.

Alexander Volkanovski Backs Alex Pereira’s Complaints Regarding Herb Dean’s Officiating at UFC Freedom 250

Alexander Volkanovski weighs in on Alex Pereira's criticism of Herb Dean [via MMA Fighting and Bloody Elbow]

Alex Pereira‘s knockout loss to Ciryl Gane has become quite controversial in the days following the UFC Freedom 250 event. Many voices in the sport have given their takes on the situation with the prevailing opinion being quite divided. But UFC featherweight champion, Alexander Volkanovski, has firmly backed ‘Poatan’ in this predicament.

In his statements following the White House card, the Brazilian has maintained that he was fouled by Gane in their matchup with those illegal strikes contributing to the finish of the fight. The former double champion has lambasted referee Herb Dean for his alleged poor officiating, calling for accountability against the officials.

Volkanovski concurred with ‘Poatan’ in that he also believes that fighters should have more recourse in such situations. Moreover, the Australian also backed Pereira and said that Dean should have done a better job in dissuading Gane at the White House.

Herb, I love you but you should have been pretty vocal… I don’t want to throw shade on people but there was a lot of back of the head shots. I remember looking over, seeing a couple of shots, and he wasn’t saying anything. I’m thinking, ‘He’s not even telling him to watch the back of the head. What’s going on here?’

Alexander Volkanovski via his YouTube channel

Dana White had also backed up Alex Pereira in this controversial discussion around the rules about officiating and fouls in MMA. The UFC CEO made it clear that the Brazilian was not one to complain, so him abandoning his usual stoic demeanor to bemoan the officiating was a significant matter. Volkanovski asserted something similar as his reasoning for discussing this matter on his YouTube channel.

If Pereira wants people to talk about it, then here I am talking about it. I’m not taking anything away from Gane, but that particular situation is something we need to discuss because it was pretty bad.

Alexander Volkanovski via his YouTube channel

This recent controversy about officiating has caused a lot of backlash against Herb Dean. He has now been at the center of yet another divisive moment involving Ciryl Gane landing an illegal blow.

Despite all this, Alexander Volkanovski has maintained that the MMA community should not be so quick as to vilify the long serving referee.

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Alexander Volkanovski defends Herb Dean amid backlash

As mentioned prior, Herb Dean is not someone who is new to controversial moments in the cage. Aside from his presence in Ciryl Gane’s lowlights, the veteran referee faced scathing criticism from ex-UFC fighter Jorge Masvidal. Moreover, he also received a lot of hate for his performance at UFC 306 after getting too involved in the Sean O’Malley vs Merab Dvalishvili matchup.

Alexander Volkanovski
Alexander Volkanovski (via Athlon Sports)

That said, Alexander Volkanovski has called for the MMA community to ease up on Dean as the discussions of shoddy officiating gather steam. In the aforementioned video on his channel, the two-time featherweight champion has reminded viewers that it is important to not simply throw referees under the bus and instead have open discussions around this issue plaguing the sport.

People are too hard on refs. We should be able to call them out for their mistakes, but not throw hate on them, and let’s find ways to deal with those things. Let’s have more of a conversation about that because we need to understand these people are human, so we can’t hate on Herb Dean.

Alexander Volkanovski via his YouTube channel

Ultimately, this issue is quite complex with commission accountability being a long-standing problem in MMA. Rarely are referee decisions reviewed or overturned, and even then the officials in question are never available to take accountability publicly for their decisions. As such, the recent issue with Poatan seems to have lit a fire under this problem as more voices like Volk comment on it.

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