Referee Herb Dean Let Hair Pulls AND an Eye Poke Go Unpunished, And It Cost Michel Pereira The Fight!

Alright, Seattle, listen up. You know that feeling when the refs make a call so bad at Lumen Field you want to throw your beer? Or when T-Mobile Park sees an obvious strike three get called a ball? Well, the UFC just pulled a double-header of *that* kind of infuriating officiating at UFC Baku this past weekend, and honestly, if you're a fan of fights, you should be absolutely steaming. It feels like every single week there’s a new reason to scream about the officiating, but this card? This one was a special kind of awful, and it puts the entire sport's integrity on blast.

Jim Perdios Kicks Off the Card with a Head-Scratcher

The prelims opened with Tahir Abdullayev vs. Jefferson Nascimento, and man, referee Jim Perdios decided to make it memorable for all the wrong reasons. This fight was already a snooze-fest with zero offense, but then things got bizarre. Nascimento got warned for being inactive, right? Cool. Except UFC Stats show Nascimento was outworking Abdullayev in the first two rounds, and Abdullayev got NO warning. Seriously? Then, to top it off, Abdullayev clocks Nascimento AFTER the second-round horn, and Perdios does NOTHING. No point deduction. It was a straight-up replay of the Holly Holm vs. Germaine de Randamie mess from UFC 208 in everyone's minds. The cherry on top? Abdullayev drops Nascimento and tries to land shots, but Nascimento is grabbing on from the bottom, a perfectly fine defensive move. But Perdios steps in and stops the fight! Nascimento was on his feet protesting immediately, and even the UFC's own commentary team couldn't defend the ca

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ll. What are we even doing here?

Herb Dean's Latest Officiating Disaster Steals the Co-Main Event

Just when you think it can't get worse, the co-main event, Shara “Bullet” Magomedov vs. Michel Pereira, had the same stench of terrible officiating, this time courtesy of longtime referee Herb Dean. Look, Dean used to be "the man," but his best days are long gone. Alex Pereira is out here accusing Dean of terrible officiating in his UFC Freedom 250 bout with Ciryl Gane, and honestly, after UFC Baku, you totally get why. In the first round, Pereira dropped Magomedov. As Pereira was on top trying to land shots, Magomedov was straight-up pulling Pereira's hair. Multiple times! What did Dean do? Nothing! No disqualification, no TKO, no point deduction. Just a "hard warning." Okay, fine, a warning. But then, after a boring second round, Magomedov lands an eye poke on Pereira in the third. And guess what Dean did? Absolutely nothing! No point deduction, nada. Magomedov goes on to win on the judges' scorecards, but if Dean had done his job, Pereira could have won, or it would've been a draw at best for Magomedov. It fundamentally changed the outcome of the fight. Andrew Richardson over at MMA Mania totally called it, saying these issues are way too common. Every time there’s an outcry, nothing happens. We all know these refs and judges fall under state athletic commissions, which have government oversight. But how much more are we going to have to watch fighters get robbed before someone steps in and actually brings some consequences to these people? This is the Emerald City, we demand accountability! Let's hope someone, somewhere, starts paying attention before the sport eats itself.

This article was created with AI assistance and reviewed by Seattle On Tap editorial staff. Always verify information with official team sources.