Position and speed can mean the difference between an extra blunt stroke and three of them, and in the case of Derrick Lewis’s knockout at Curtis Blaydes, both were not entirely in favor of Herb Dean.
That’s according to official Bellator veteran and current commentator John McCarthy, who said that while Dean’s performance at UFC Vegas 19 was not perfect, it was as good as could be expected under the particular circumstances.
Dean, whose connections have been the subject of frequent controversy among fans, fighters and even UFC officials, has emerged as a trend after two heavyweight fights – Aleksei Oleinik vs. Chris Daukaus and Curtis Blaydes vs. Derrick Lewis. In the first case, Oleinik took several unanswered punches while covering his feet, while Blaydes took two while he was unconscious.
Dean was criticized for not interrupting the fight with Oleinik soon, while the Russian struggled. But McCarthy said Oleinik’s story may have influenced the leeway he had before he was pulled out of the fight.
“Could Herb have stopped before? Yes, he could, ”said McCarthy on the“ Weighing In ”podcast that he co-hosts with UFC vet Josh Thomson. “But there may have been things he is seeing at the time that say, ‘No, I have to let this go’, and he worked with Olineik.”
While some online fans believed they saw Oleinik looking at Dean in a kind of call for intervention, McCarthy said it could easily have been the gray-haired veteran’s attempt to let him fight longer.
“If you’re going to have 100 people looking at it, you can have 50 people saying, ‘I would have stopped before,’ and 50 people saying, ‘I thought it was okay,’ said McCarthy. “Olineik didn’t hit the ground either, and when you have a guy who has 75 fights in his career and he hasn’t hit the ground and is trying to get back, sometimes we let that guy swim in deep water.
“When Herb thought he was drowning, he pulled him out. Will everyone agree with that? But that is just your opinion. You are not standing there. “
Dean was there to catch a staggering Oleinik after waving to the fight just before the first minute’s two-minute mark. At that point, he was only a few feet away when the veteran’s balance became questionable. The same cannot be said for his position when Blaydes was knocked out while attempting a takedown near the start of the second frame at the main attraction of the night.
Lewis blamed Dean when Blaydes’ corner allegedly protested the pair of hits hit on his fighter after the blunt blow. But according to McCarthy, Lewis correctly called Dean as the final decision maker of the end point of the fight.
“In the back, most referees will say to the fighter: ‘Hey, you go after him, you knock out the guy, you stop when I tell you to stop.’ Don’t stop unless I tell you to stop, because we catch guys who cheat.
“They will be stuck in position, they will see where the referee is, they will put their hand and start hitting the fighter. The fighter releases the pressure and the referee doesn’t see, and suddenly, the bottom fighter starts to fight, and the referee releases, and suddenly everything falls apart for the guy who should have won the fight. “
McCarthy cited another fight that Dean supervised – Amanda Ribas against Marina Rodriguez at UFC 257 – as an example of how body language can go south. Rodriguez believed that Dean was taking action when he narrowed the distance after she dropped Ribas. But Dean made no contact and dismissed the fight, so Rodriguez was forced to redouble his efforts.
McCarthy indicated that Lewis’ decision to hit Blaydes after the initial knockout was a choice. But it was one that he had a right to do.
“Does Derrick need to hit him again? No, he doesn’t want to, ”said McCarthy. “This is because of him. But if Blaydes hits the ground, and if it hits the ground, it brings him back, and Derrick Lewis is leaving, Herb will stand there and say, ‘You should have gone after him.’
“So Derrick did what he was supposed to do. The problem for Derrick is that Herb is after him, so he needs to move. Blaydes turns away from him. Believe me, that time for Herb is passing in slow motion. He’s trying to get there as fast as he can, and it looks like it’s taking forever. It is very fast. Derrick Lewis is able to hit many shots, one second at a time. “
Lewis said after his victory that he was not sure if Blaydes would recover and return to the fight. As debatable as it may be, McCarthy saw the fighters recover from incredibly punitive shots.
Preventing everyone from falling was Dean’s job, and McCarthy believes the veteran referee did the best he could.
“He got there as fast as he could,” said McCarthy. “Is Derrick Lewis wrong to hit Blaydes when he is unconscious? No. This is basically what happens sometimes. “
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