Merab Dvalishvili recently addressed the controversy surrounding referee Herb Dean’s involvement in his title showdown against Sean O’Malley last weekend. After re-watching the entire fight, ‘The Machine’ said that Dean’s interference affected his performance in the final round. Dvalishvili became the new bantamweight champion at the UFC 306 pay-per-view top bill.
In context, Dean gave Dvalishvili a stern warning early in their opening frame at The Sphere. The veteran referee wasn’t happy to see Merab Dvalishvili engaging with O’Malley’s coach and cornerman Tim Welch outside the cage. Herb Dean put a stop to the excessive coaching as well. However, telling the fighter to put in more work did not bode well with the MMA community. Dvalishvili weighs in.
Still, respect for Herb Dean. I tweet before about how great a job he did reffing my fight when he stopped the callouts from O’Malley’s team and when he told me to cut the kissing. I finally watched the fight, though, and he definitely affected my 5th round…had O’Malleys back in a good position…But Herb kept telling me to work. So I switched my position, and he told again – work. I let go again and lost my dominant position.
Merab Dvalishvili via X (@MerabDvalishvil)
Dean also asked Dvalishvili to be more active during a final grappling exchange. Veteran micsman and desk duty commentators Joe Rogan and Daniel Cormier thought he did enough. This apparently threw the Georgian off his game and affected his dominant position in R5. Nevertheless, Dvalishvili beat Sean O’Malley by unanimous decision (48-47, 48-47, 49-46) to earn title gold.
Still respect for Herb Dean. I tweet before about how great a job he did reffing my fight when he stopped the callouts from O’Malley’s team and when he told me to cut the kissing. I finally watched the fight though and he definately effected my 5th round. I had O’Malleys back in…
— Merab “The Machine” Dvalishvili (@MerabDvalishvil) September 18, 2024
In their grappling exchange, Dvalishvili had 6 takedowns and 10:03 minutes of control time. The Serra-Longo Fight Team wrestler also teed off 214 significant strikes against the pro-switch-stance striker. All thanks to Ray Longo’s coaching. So he put in quite the “work”, if not anything else. While Dvalishvili addressed Dean’s actions from his end, some took a less subtle stand.
T.J. Dillashaw sounds off on Herb Dean for ‘bullsh*t’ judgment
T.J. Dillashaw recently slammed Herb Dean for telling Merab Dvalishvili to be more active during the Noche UFC 306 PPV main event. The double-branded title double-header saw Dvalishvili (18-4 MMA, 11-2 UFC) dominate Sean O’Malley. However, there was a moment when that could have been completely different.
Herb Dean; T.J. Dillashaw (Source: bloodyelbow.com/complex.com)With Dean urging to put in more work than the usual grapples, ‘The Machine’ lost the back in the dominant position. While on his feet, ‘Suga’ hit him with a midriff body kick that slowed his roll in the final seconds. While funnyman Dvalishvili had his reasons for it, the push to work on feet despite it not being lazy wrestling has irked many.
Despite Dean’s pleas for more activity, the Georgian continued his aggressive pocket of wrestling and closing out the target area. On the latest episode of Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson’s ‘JAXXON’ Podcast, Dillashaw lambasted the UFC official. Agreeing with Rogan and Cormier, Dillashaw bills that the referee has no say in how a fighter chooses to operate.
It’s complete bullsh*t. You can’t tell two fighters to work when they’re on their feet, they can do whatever they want. I could run circles if I want to. You can’t tell me to go work. It’s not like I’m stalling against the cage or something, we’re striking and you’re going to tell me, ‘Let’s work’, like, I might run into something now cause you’re coaching me on how I’m supposed to fight…
T.J. Dillashaw during the ‘JAXXON’ Podcast
Jackson also agreed that Merab Dvalishvili could have gotten a better and fair shake during his feature main event. The ex-UFC star also stirred the pot, saying that maybe there was pressure from brass and UFC CEO Dana White to instigate a flashy finish. Given the feature co-mains between Valentina Shevchenko and Alexa Grasso also entailed defensive wrestling, that could be true.
