Of course he does.
CA isnt exactly the land of punishing fuck ups.
Like Tammy Wynette said: Stand by your man and show the world you love him.
California State Athletic Commission (CSAC) Executive Director, Andy Foster, is aware of all the complaints surrounding the track record of longtime referee, Herb Dean. Once known as “the best in the business” who “rarely makes mistakes,” Dean is currently under fire for a series of botched calls in high-profile MMA fights.
Like the UFC White House co-main event between Alex Pereira and Ciryl Gane, a bout that saw “Poatan” absorb a couple of errant blows to the back of the dome. Pereira continued to disparage Dean in the weeks that followed and even started a petition to have Dean banned from officiating future UFC fights.
“Whether it’s Herb or Marc Goddard or anybody that’s received some of this criticism, I don’t think it’s really fair,” Foster told MMA Fighting. “It doesn’t have to be fair. Being a referee’s not fair. I think Herb Dean’s a good referee and you’ll see Herb Dean on the main event of my upcoming UFC’s because Herb Dean is the senior referee in California. Herb Dean has my full confidence.”
The promotion will return to California for UFC 331 on Sept. 19 at Intuit Dome in Inglewood.
“The thing with Gane and Pereira, I was there. I was watching that in real time,” Foster continued. “That didn’t look anything different … that looked like a normal fight to me. That looked like a normal fight. I think what started that series was the punch that put [Pereira] on the ground. I know that’s what started that series. He’s obviously trying to finish him. [Pereira] is trying to get back in the fight.”
“There was no doubt a few of them got through and hit [the back of the head],” Foster admitted. “The question is what do you do in that situation? Do you stop the action? Because I don’t think many referees would have, if any, certainly at the high level. What do you do with that situation? Tell me that’s not something that you’ve seen before. I think what started that series was the knockdown. That was the case.”
As a matter of fact, we have seen it before.
No accountability from a government entity, go figure
This is retarded, illegal strikes are that no matter what, and definitely shouldn’t be allowed to end a fight. A ref should see the illegal strike if he is watching the action correctly and he should pause the fight to warn Gane in this case. The point is to protect the fighters with rules like this, some seem to use it as a cheat code and some refs allow it.
No illegal shot should lead to a stoppage.
That said Gane was winning that fight no matter what, gaining weight isn’t a winning combo for everyone, ask mir.
Thats honestly a kindergarten level simplistic look from Foster. What a moron.
The better solution is to take it out of the refs’ hands and go back to the old rules and allow kicks to the head anytime too.
People still mad Poatan got his ass kicked 