Herb Dean's massive mistake - was I the only one to see it this way?

[Lasse Stefanz]

Herb Dean made a DISASTROUS mistake in the fight yesterday as far as refereeing goes. Anyone agree?

You all know what situation I'm talking about, the one where The Count's mouthpiece fell out. Herb Dean picked it up as soon as he could to eventually give it back to Bisping at a proper time. Moments later Bisping pointed to him to show he wanted it back, Herb Dean then nodded his head affirmatively and started walking towards him to give it back. Of course Bisping thinks the referee is in control of the fight at this point; as the notion hits him he's about to get his mouthpiece back from the man who is overseeing the fight he lets down his guard (unwise yes, but very understandable from a psychological perspective) and was then left completely vulnerable to strikes from Silva.

Herb Dean really, really fucked up when he was trying to give the mouthpiece back (yeah, that's what he was doing, look at the footage) when the fight was still on. He instead should have stopped the fight and then given it back, or he should have waited till after the bell as there were only a few seconds left of the round.

It ticks me off when I watch the .gif and see Herb trying to save face by not stopping the fight after Bisping goes down like a sack of potatoes. Realising he made a huge mistake in leaving Bisping open to strikes from his opponent he decides to not stop the fight despite the fact Bisping's slumped over himself, completely out of it.

A referee is there to protect the fighters. Herb Dean instead put Bisping in great danger with how he handled the mouthpiece situation. Without this fuck up I'm pretty sure Bisping still would have gotten the decision, only with a more intact face and a lot less head trauma.

Bisping now goes down in history as the only man (?) to win a fight he was knocked out in. Pretty impressive. Great job, Herb Dean.

 

[Le Choad]

I didn't hear him say "Stop!"

and I always hear him say it.

 

[KB Warrior]

Protect yourself at all times

 

[Soul On Ice]

"The nod" is meaningless if the ref is screaming at you to keep fighting.

 

[M o A]

Agreed. This is similar to Joe Cortez' F up with Ortiz vs Mayweather.

 

[Yung Dilla]

Not hus mistake at all bisping isn't a damn ref he doest say when to stop. If he would've done his job and kept fighting herb would've gotten in between them two and stopped it thus no knee happening. Bisping seen herb walking over and kept focused on that. Not hervs fault at all.

 

[machidafan99]

major eff up., Herb looked away hunting for mouth piece instead of watching the fight.
STOP the fight THEN hunt for mouth piece.

 

[podsox]

One of the big problems was how slow he was after he picked up the mouthpiece. He was out of position and then walked towards them like he was going to call break and then switched his mind at the last second. I still put it on bisping for acting like a moron during the sequence.

 

[phoenixikki]

He should've stop after the knockdown if anything, Bisping took a lot of damage unnecessarily in this fight

 

[xn7]

word.

 

[TheVaado]

No he nodded as in "Go! fight!". He pointed to Bisping telling him to keep fighting.

 

[Lasse Stefanz]

major eff up., Herb looked away hunting for mouth piece instead of watching the fight.
STOP the fight THEN hunt for mouth piece.

I noticed that too. Looked bad. As Bisping was pressed up against the cage eating punches, Herb Dean was in his own world trying to locate and pick up the mouthpiece.

 

[Doug22]

You have no idea what Herb said there, he probably tells Bisping "protect your self idiot!"

Herb was fully aware of how much time was left in the round, he probably saw no reason to interrupt the mouth piece so Bisping could have it for the 10 seconds left in the round...

Your mouth piece doesn't dictate what is happening in the fight, other wise people would just spit their mouth piece out every time they were in danger.

 

[Non]

You clearly see Herb pointing to Bisping and telling to keep going and he said "Fight on" just seconds before.

His mistake was not acting more quickly to get control of what happened afterwards.

 

[The lord of bones]

It doesn't matter what Bisping says or does, the FIRST thing Herb does when he brings the fighters together is say "protect yourselves at all times".

 

[Xuh]

I disagree. It's ridiculous to blame Herb. What could he do? Silva acted too fast. If you're going to stop it but the other guy lands a devastating blow just as you're starting to speak and move, what can you do? You can't penalize him for taking advantage. Reaction time is a real thing & there are too many split-second decisions being made in that time for everyone to watch in slow mo and say ''well he should have done this, and he should have done that, blah blah''... Bisping caused it to happen to himself by letting his guard down while in the pocket with a dangerous striker, that's the simplest cause of the problem and the only one that matters.

 

[HereticBD]

It was pretty inconsistent. Bisping loses a mouth guard and wants the fight paused. Herb does nothing. Silva gets poked and commands Herb to pause the fight. He does.

 

[Lasse Stefanz]

No he nodded as in "Go! fight!" that's why he pointed like "Keep fighting"

Even if that were true which it isn't, he looks completely lost as to what he's supposed to do in the .gif. He can't be walking towards the fighter as if he's about to step in and then pretend like he didn't. If you were a fighter, dazed, would you want to have to try and decipher what a ref does to stay safe? No. Herb Dean fucked up by being completely ambivalent and not knowing what to do or how to get a chance to give back the mouthpiece. He could have left it on the mat another 10 seconds if he wasn't giving it right back to Bisping.

 

[the ocean]

that moment when have to explain to a 5 year old how the guy who got knocked out...won the fight

 

[AnGrYcRoW]

Bisping should have nevere taken his eyes off of Silva , protect yourself at all times , Herb did handle it poorly though