Iconic referee Herb Dean has responded to criticism from Joe Rogan and others for his performance in the main event at UFC 306.

The headliner witnessed Sean O’Malley drop the bantamweight title to Merab Dvalishvili in what turned out to be UFC President Dana White’s biggest money making event to date.

Merab Dvalishvili became the new bantamweight champion at Noche UFCGetty

Branded as Noche UFC for promotional reasons, the card was held at the iconic Las Vegas Sphere in arguably the most spectacular MMA event we’ve ever witnessed.

One of the biggest talking points of the main event between O’Malley and Dvalishvili was the performance of referee Herb Dean.

He was involved with three distinct incidents throughout the fight which sparked debate online.

The first occurred at the very beginning of the bout, when Dean cautioned O’Malley’s long-term friend and coach Tim Welch for excessive coaching.

Many UFC fans were confused about what was going on, but Dean has since explained the incident in a conversation with Helen Yee.

He said: “I have gone back and watched some parts of it [O’Malley vs Dvalishvili]. It was a good fight and I had some things to do. There was a lot going on there. 

“I don’t want to harp on about it, but as a referee it is our job to be in charge of excessive coaching. There is a rule.

“I’m not here to be anyone’s parents or anything and we want people’s personalities to be able to shine, that’s what makes our sport fun, we have some great personalities.

“But there is a rule that the seconds [coaches] are not to interfere in the fight and that’s including trying to influence the referee for one thing, it even specifies that.

“But you definitely can’t try to influence the other fighter or distract them. Your job is to coach your fighter. So yeah, my job is to do something about it.”

Dean has been in charge of some of the biggest UFC fights of all timeGETTY

Dean has been involved with officiating for nearly three decades since giving up his own MMA career.

Another strange occurrence happened at the end of the first round when Dvalishvili kissed O’Malley on his back when he had wrestled him to the cage.

“Yes, [I have seen it before], and that does fall under unsportsmanlike conduct,” Dean added, speaking on ‘The Machine’s’ kissing.

“Abusive language, things like that you’re not supposed to do. It was a little bit romantic.”

White and other legendary figures within the UFC, including commentator and podcaster Joe Rogan, have called Dean the best in the business on several occasions.

But the majority of those involved with the organisation seemed to disagree with Dean in what was arguably the most controversial decision in the main event. 

In the final rounds, the referee was heard talking to Dvalishvili, telling him to do more ‘work’ on the ground, even though the Georgian looked to be in full control.

Rogan specifically mentioned the incident live on commentary during the fight, saying what Dean was doing was ‘insane’.

He has been known for having a huge dislike towards referees who tell fighters to stand up when they are in good control of their opponent.

Dean responded to critics, saying he had seen what people had been discussing on social media about him telling the fighters to act more.

He said: “That’s what I’ve always done. I can tell you what I tell the fighters during the rules briefing.

“I tell them, ‘you know anytime I’m going to interfere, any intervention I’m going to talk to you first’. If I’m going to stand you up, what I’m going to say first is ‘let’s work’. I usually clap and that means what I’m expecting from him is not busy work. I specify, ‘I’m looking for effort to finish the fight’.

“It’s not as easy as just passing the guard…but effort to pass, effort to advance your position, effort to bring the fight to a finish.

“That rule was put in to make our sport look the way we want it to look.”

It is likely we will see Dean next back in action at UFC 307, which sees Alex Pereira face Khalil Rountree Jr in Salt Lake City for the light heavyweight title.

Jose Aldo and Aljamain Sterling both feature on the undercard, while Raquel Pennington defends her Women’s bantamweight title against Julianna Pena.