UFC commentator Dan Hardy tells referee Herb Dean ‘do your job’ in Fight Island KO row
- Former UFC fighter Hardy and broadcast colleague Paul Felder irate at Dean’s officiating in Trinaldo vs Herbert bout
- ‘Come on, stop the fight!’ screams Hardy after referee makes Trinaldo land more punches on clearly concussed Herbert
Referee Herb Dean came under fire from commentator and former fighter Dan Hardy after some controversial officiating at UFC Fight Island 3.
Dean was criticised by Hardy and fellow analyst Paul Felder on the ESPN broadcast after failing to immediately intervene when Francisco Trinaldo (26-7) clearly knocked out Jai Herbert in the third round of their fight, the main event of the preliminary card.
Instead of stopping the fight, Dean instructed Trinaldo to keep going. The Brazilian was reluctant to land further blows on Herbert (10-2), who was flat on his back and not trying to cover up or defend himself.
“Come on! Stop the fight!” screamed Hardy, as Trinaldo fired off a few more tamer shots to the Briton’s head so that Dean would step in. “He does not want any more shots in that moment. That fight was over. That’s terrible.”
“That’s two times now,” a disgruntled Hardy added, in what was likely a reference to Dean’s officiating in Tanner Boser’s TKO win over Raphael Pessoa, when Pessoa appeared to signal to the ref he was badly hurt before Boser rushed in and got off several unanswered shots.
In a muffled audio clip, Hardy later could be heard arguing with Dean, telling him “ … That’s my job, now you do yours.”