Herb Dean to ref UFC 168's Weidman-Silva II main event, judges assigned

Veteran referee Herb Dean will officiate next month’s UFC 168 headliner and rematch between middleweight champion Chris Weidman (10-0 MMA, 6-0 UFC) and Anderson Silva (33-5 MMA, 16-1 UFC).

UFC 168 takes place Dec. 28 at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on FOX Sports 1 and MMAjunkie.

In addition to naming Dean as the bout’s referee, the Nevada State Athletic Commission named judges for the year-end title fight. Serving as cageside officials will be Junichiro Kamijo, Chris Lee and Patricia Morse-Jarman. All are veterans judges and have scored numerous UFC fights.

Dean, one of MMA’s most prominent refs, also officiated the first Weidman and Silva fight at UFC 162 in July.

In that bout, Weidman pulled off one of the year’s biggest upsets and delivered Silva his first career UFC loss. After taunting his opponent and pretending he was on wobbly legs, Silva was sent to the mat with a Weidman left. Weidman pounced with follow-up shots and forced a stoppage at the 1:18 mark of the second round.

“The first fight was quite strange, and I normally don’t recommend the same ref for the rematch, but here, I think it would actually be very appropriate,” NSAC Executive Director Keith Kizer today told the commission, which approved his recommendation.

For Dean, it means one of the biggest referee assignments in MMA history. UFC President Dana White recently said he expects UFC 168 to be bigger than the historic UFC 100 card in 2009.

For the latest on UFC 168, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site.

(Pictured: Herb Dean)