In MMA, a warning can quickly become meaningless. Fighters are constantly asked to watch their fingers, avoid the back of the head, stop holding onto the fence, and always aim above the belt line. However, when those warnings keep on piling up without a point deduction from the referee, the fighter on the receiving end is often the only one who pays the real price. And now, Henry Cejudo believes this has become a serious problem.

On the latest episode of Pound 4 Pound with Kamaru Usman, the former two-division UFC champion took aim at Herb Dean following another stretch of controversy for the veteran referee.

“Like Herb Dean, if you’re about it, bro, make a decision,” he said. “Take a point. People have lost an eye. People are losing paychecks, dude. And you’re out there getting the standard pay. And you and your homies are just, whatever, like, we’re all together.

“These guys are so afraid to take points that it is hurting the sport of mixed martial arts, and it has to stop. And you gotta suspend them, and you gotta hold them accountable because people are losing their vision or people are losing their damn money.”

With this, ‘Triple C’ joins a list of fighters who are going after the veteran referee after a few controversial fights officiated by Dean.

Alex Pereira has been spearheading the movement against the referee since his second-round knockout defeat to Ciryl Gane at UFC Freedom 250. ‘Poatan’ believes many shots to the back of his head went unpunished during the final sequence and has since called for Herb Dean to be punished.

Things didn’t get much quieter after what took place at UFC Baku. During the co-main event between Sharaputdin Magomedov and Michel Pereira last week, Dean repeatedly warned Magomedov of pulling his opponent’s hair while defending on the ground. He later issued another warning following an eye poke by Shara, but eventually opted not to deduct a point.

If Herb Dean had taken a point off Sharaputdin Magomedov, the bout would have ended in a draw rather than a unanimous decision victory for ‘Shara Bullet’—a move from the veteran referee that led Alex Pereira even to label him a “coward.”

For Henry Cejudo, though, this isn’t just another refereeing debate. He understands how much a missed point deduction can impact a fighter.

During his fight with Song Yadong, ‘Triple C’ was hit with two low blows before suffering a nasty double eye poke late in the third round. However, despite numerous fouls, referee Jason Herzog refused to deduct a point.

Henry Cejudo used the full five-minute recovery period and even directly asked the referee to take a point. Instead, all Song Yadong received was another warning.

The fight eventually ended when ‘Triple C’ informed his corner that he couldn’t see. As a result, the doctor stopped the contest. Because three rounds had already elapsed, it came down to the scorecards, where Song Yadong won a technical decision—including two tight 29-28 cards. That experience explains why Cejudo believes warnings are no longer sufficient.

A single point can mean the difference between winning and losing, while one ignored foul can permanently damage a fighter’s vision, something that happened to Michael Bisping and could’ve happened to Tom Aspinall. The UFC heavyweight champion had to undergo surgery to fix his eye damage caused by repeat offender Ciryl Gane’s eye poke during their heavyweight title fight.

Still, not everyone agrees that Herb Dean or any other referee deserves to be held accountable right now.

Big John McCarthy urges Herb Dean and other referees to admit their errors

Even though fans and fighters continue to demand Herb Dean’s removal, one of MMA’s most recognized referees believes the criticism has gone too far. Big John McCarthy, who helped create many of the rules that continue to be used in the sport today, recently defended Dean on The Ariel Helwani Show.

After reviewing photos of the punches Alex Pereira said were illegal during his bout with Ciryl Gane, McCarthy argued that the shots were acceptable and Dean shouldn’t be held responsible for the stoppage. More importantly, he says fans should realize that referees may occasionally make mistakes.

“I tell people all of the time—we’re human,” he said. “I don’t care who you are as an official; you’re going to make mistakes. The sport is too fast, too many things going on to sit there and say you won’t make mistakes. I think that right now…the fans have become media [members] through social media.

“They have the right to say whatever they want, to have their opinion, and all of that is fine. But at this moment, they’re good at attacking officials over the slightest thing that happens. Every official is what I call the flavor of the week, flavor of the month, because they had a score that someone didn’t like or made a call they didn’t like.”

However, that doesn’t mean Big John McCarthy wants officials to ignore their mistakes. In fact, his advice to fellow referees is simple: be honest.

“We try, but there’s always something, and that’s why I’m talking with my peers, telling them to be honest,” he added. “If you could’ve done something better, what was it? What could you have done that would’ve been possibly a better outcome? We’re never going to be exactly what everybody wants.”

Henry Cejudo wants suspensions and real accountability. McCarthy believes that mistakes are unavoidable, but officials must be willing to acknowledge and learn from them.

They may disagree on the punishment, but they appear to agree on one point: just issuing warning after warning is insufficient when a fighter’s health and paycheck can be decided by one missed call.