There always seems to be some type of controversy coming out of a UFC event and the latest show last Saturday is no different, with Dan Hardy’s on-air outburst at referee Herb Dean following the Francisco Trinaldo and Jai Herbert fight at UFC on ESPN 14.
What started the verbal confrontation was the end result of the match-up, which saw Trinaldo score a devastating overhand jab that clearly knocked out Jai Herbert. However, referee Herb Dean didn’t end the fight, which pissed off the commentators who were shouting to stop the fight through their headsets.
Trinaldo eventually nailed four more punches before Dean finally called the bout; however, Dan Hardy clearly wasn’t happy with the way the stoppage was handled. The UFC commentator approached Herb Dean and as you can see below, the verbal confrontation got a bit heated:
Following the incident, UFC senior vice president David Shaw confirmed that they will be conducting an investigation. During the post-fight conference, Shaw spoke about the confrontation that took place between the two men (Transcript courtesy of MMA Junkie):
“I wasn’t on the floor when it happened. I did hear some of the comments on the broadcast. Here’s the thing: Being a ref in MMA is one of the hardest roles that you can have, and Herb Dean is one of our best, categorically. (The) bottom line is, health and safety of the athletes is of paramount importance. On the other side, you’ve got a guy like Hardy who, very successful MMA career, an excellent analyst right now, but he’s passionate, and he’s fiery.
“The important thing for us to do is to try and get a handle and try to get an understanding of what actually happened. Obviously, this is not something that you address with either one of the parties during the show. These guys have a job to do, and so we certainly don’t want to disrupt their efforts to do an excellent job, as we expect they always will. So we’ll go back, we’ll check it out, try to get a better understanding of what happened and really take it from there.”
Both Herb Dean and Dan Hardy have come out defending their stance on Saturday night, with Dean especially criticizing Hardy’s actions following the fight.