Herb Dean Tapped to Officiate Anderson Silva vs. Chris Weidman UFC 162 Main Event

Referee Herb Dean will control the cage when Anderson Silva and Chris Weidman square off for Silva’s UFC middleweight championship.

Nevada State Athletic Commission officials on Friday assigned Dean as the referee for the bout. They also named Adalaide Byrd, Marcos Rosales and Patricia Morse Jarman as the fight’s judges.

Silva and Weidman headline UFC 162, which takes place on July 6 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

UFC president Dana White recently took aim at referee Steve Mazzagatti, heavily criticizing the official’s actions in the World Series of Fighting 3 main event between Jon Fitch and Josh Burkman. His criticism of Mazzagatti was followed by concern that his comments might be met with retaliation from the commission.

White explained that he felt Mazzagatti was far too slow in responding to Burkman choking Fitch unconscious, and that it was the latest in a series of missteps by the veteran referee.

“The Nevada State Athletic Commission is going to keep this (expletive) guy around until he seriously hurt somebody,” said White. “That guy is dangerous.  It’s disgusting.  At what point do you realize that this guy is an incompetent fool and he’s going to hurt somebody.

“Now because I said this, the Nevada State Athletic Commission will give him the Silva fight (at UFC 162).”

Mazzagatti, however, will not officiate the Silva vs. Weidman fight.

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