Herb Dean weighs in on UFC 211's controversial Dustin Poirier-Eddie Alvarez no-contest

The most attention referees in UFC fights usually want to have is when the camera points their direction when Bruce Buffer announces their name.

But every now and then, a ref finds himself part of the story of a fight, and usually at least one of the sides walks away unhappy. That’s the position veteran official Herb Dean is in in the wake of this past Saturday’s UFC 211 event in Texas.

Dean was officiating the lightweight bout between Dustin Poirier (21-5 MMA, 13-4 UFC) and former champ Eddie Alvarez (28-5 MMA, 3-2 UFC), which closed out the preliminary card on FX at American Airlines Center in Dallas. He ruled the fight a no-contest after what he declared were unintentional knees, albeit illegal ones, from Alvarez put Poirier in a position to not continue.

The controversy over the ruling started immediately. Should Alvarez have been disqualified, with Poirier getting the win, since at the very least the third knee in succession was clearly illegal? And what about the fact the state of Texas hadn’t adopted the new Unified Rules of MMA yet? Was that a factor?

Dean today told MMAjunkie that he had to make a determination if Alvarez intentionally broke the rules with the knees, or if he broke them – but wasn’t sure he was breaking them, for whatever reason.

“I would have disqualifed him if I believed they were intentional,” Dean said. “How I rule I knew that Eddie couldn’t see whether (Poirier’s) knee was down or not – that’s why I ruled it unintentional.

“There’s a lot going on in there, and that’s why (referees) give people a little bit of leeway with some of those rules. I reserve ‘intentional’ for someone acting out of the rules and being a bad guy, and they need to be disqualified. I don’t think (Alvarez) was trying to be a bad person. I think he was trying to fight within the rules – it’s just that it’s difficult.”

We already know that decision didn’t go over well with Poirier, who was following up on a “Fight of the Night”-winning decision over Jim Miller in February and trying to stretch his solid run at 155 pounds to six wins in seven fights, and do it against a recent former champ.

Poirier is planning to appeal the no-contest in the hope it will be reversed to a disqualification win for him. That way, his win bonus is back in play. He also wants a rematch.

But he said whatever Dean’s selling as the reasoning, he’s not buying it.

“I’m protected by these rules,” Poirier told MMAjunkie earlier today. “I think he’s trying to cover his own ass. Any time somebody strikes somebody with a blow, it’s intentional. I don’t understand. He didn’t trip me and kick me on the ground – he intentionally kneed me on the ground.”

Dean said fighters are always briefed backstage before their bouts on the rules that will be in force at the event. When it comes to grounded opponents, there has been intensified scrutiny over the years based on fighters who would “play the game” by putting a single finger or hand on the mat in order to be considered grounded, taking knees to the head out of play for their opponents while the hand was touching the canvas.

Dean said he doesn’t think Poirier was using that method at the time, regardless of what rules were in place. The sequence came after an onslaught of offense from Poirier, which Alvarez survived in order to rally and start to put Poirier in trouble along the fence. Then the knees happened, and the whole thing came to a halt for good.

Despite Poirier’s criticism of the decision, Dean said he can’t fault the fighter for trying to get things overturned.

“I’m not personalizing this,” Dean said. “It’s not about me – it’s about him. He’s a fighter. I’m here just trying to do a good job and serve him and the other fighters. This is about him. I don’t take that personally. He should do everything he can. If he feels he needs to appeal, I think he should do that. I don’t take it personal on me. The fight is the most important fight of their career.”

There is one thing Dean and Poirier agree on: the need for instant replay across the board in fights.

Dean said he can see its potential advantages, even if he admits in the case of Saturday’s fight, he wouldn’t have needed it.

“I saw the knee was down, I saw him hit him – so it was pretty evident to me,” Dean said. ” … I can’t think of a reason not to have a source of information available to you. Every way you can possibly get information to make the right call, to try to do the best job you can for these guys, that’s what I’m about.”

For more on UFC 211, check out the UFC Events section of the site.