Jorge Masvidal has never been shy about his disdain for Herb Dean, and now the former UFC star is targeting one of the biggest supporters of the veteran referee.

‘Gamebred’ recently went on a lengthy rant against Herb Dean, stating why he has never seen the longtime official as the “gold standard” that Joe Rogan frequently portrays him to be. In fact, he is so strongly opposed to the UFC commentator’s opinion that he offered to sit down with the UFC commentator and debate it out.

“I don’t know what he’s (Joe Rogan) basing that off because, if you know, I would sit down and have a theological debate discussion with anybody that thinks he’s the gold standard,” Masvidal said on Full Send MMA. “Okay, I’ll bring up, you know, numerous incidents where I see inconsistencies.

“I see nervousness, and I see something that I really dislike in a referee is if they stop it too early, but also they stop it like way too f—– late. Like, Herb Dean is what, known for stopping fights crazy late sometimes or crazy early, and I don’t—I don’t like those things, you know? It’s a big inconsistency for me.”

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Masvidal has some personal history with the referee to back up his frustration. When asked specifically about Herb Dean, the former BMF champion didn’t shy away from going back to his fight with Donald Cerrone in 2017.

Back then, Masvidal dropped Cerrone late in the opening round, and Dean appeared to be about to stop it before the horn sounded. As a result, ‘Cowboy’ got another chance in the second round, but the 41-year-old dropped him again, forcing the referee to end the fight.

“Herb Dean made me knock out Donald Cerrone twice,” he further said. “Go look, let me take a shot at Herb. I can’t stand him ever, bro.

“When it comes to fighting as a person, I ain’t got no problem with him, but as a referee, go look at my fight, and go look at the f—– madness he did in that in my fight too as well.”

Jorge Masvidal feels the problem extends beyond Herb Dean. The former UFC title challenger highlighted the way referees handle eye pokes, something that has been a major issue in the promotion, stating that officials shouldn’t always wait for a fighter to sustain obvious damage before intervening.

“A lot of these referees, you know, they’re seeing the guys with the fingers like this, like don’t wait for the f—– eye poke,” he added. “And the guy’s already a habitual eye poker. We’ve already seen him poke other people in the fight. You don’t have to wait till he f—– jams his finger in his face.

“Completely changed the dynamics of the fight because now you’re fighting for one eye. I’ve only been poked one time in my eye. And it was bad. It was like f—– insane. And your vision is gone. Your depth perception is gone.”

He realizes that fighters are trained to keep going through almost anything but believes that shouldn’t mean officials get a free pass.

“We’re tough, and we’re f—– we’re so locked in that it’s like, ‘Bro, it doesn’t matter. I’ll literally close this one eye, tilt my head a little bit more this way, and see everything.’ That’s how fighters are,” Masvidal said. “That’s how they think.

“But we shouldn’t have to go through this abuse.”

Masvidal’s criticism comes at a time when Dean has already been under fire for numerous recent decisions, so it was no surprise that ‘Gamebred’ further took aim at the referee by referencing one such controversy.

Jorge Masvidal takes another shot at Herb Dean over the Alex Pereira controversy

One of the biggest controversial moments involving Herb Dean occurred during Alex Pereira‘s bout with Ciryl Gane for the interim heavyweight title in the White House. During the final sequence, Ciryl Gane delivered several hits to the back of Alex Pereira’s head, with replays indicating multiple seemingly illegal blows.

However, Dean did not intervene, and the fight eventually ended with ‘Poatan’ being stopped.

Jorge Masvidal believes that type of officiating is the reason why several fighters cannot simply accept Herb Dean as the best referee in the sport.

“These referees got to get better,” he added. “The back of the head. I tell you I’ve been in 400 backstage meetings, and everything is always the same. ‘Hey, between the ears and the ears, don’t touch it, guys. Not here in the top of the head, not in the middle of the head.’

“Now all of a sudden hitting the back of the head is cool? I don’t know, man.”

Alex Pereira later criticized Herb Dean for the bout, stating that spotting illegal strikes should be the referee’s responsibility rather than the fighters’. And that’s exactly the reason why ‘Poatan’ seems to be upset with the referee instead of Ciryl Gane.

“Mistakes happen in fights,” Alex Pereira told The Mac Life. “Fighters are obviously under a lot of adrenaline and kind of taken by the moment, so things happen. But I don’t think the ref has the benefit of not being in there and being emotional or anything else.

“I got jabbed, I felt it, and maybe I could have recovered better. I had a lot of legal blows, then some illegal blows, and I just think the ref needs to be the one to step in and really see what’s legal and what’s not legal. That’s not necessarily the fighter’s place.”

That wasn’t the only recent controversy surrounding Herb Dean. Two weeks later, Shara Magomedov repeatedly pulled Michel Pereira‘s hair during their UFC Baku fight. And while the veteran referee warned Magomedov repeatedly, he did not deduct a point.

This led to Alex Pereira later even supporting a petition calling for the referee’s removal from UFC events, while ‘Gamebred’ too went as far as calling him the ‘Worst Ever’ referee.

In fact, he has his own solution to call an end to this ‘gold standard’ narrative.

“I would love to sit down with Joe and really have a discussion about how he’s one of the worst referees in the game,” he said.

It remains to be seen whether Jorge Masvidal’s comments will affect the conversation surrounding Herb Dean, but he has made his position clear. After years of questioning the senior referee’s rulings, ‘Gamebred’ is now challenging one of Dean’s biggest supporters, Joe Rogan, to defend his reputation.