MMA referee Herb Dean has given his opinion on eye pokes in the sport.
As we know, eye pokes have been a real problem throughout the history of mixed martial arts. That said, the conversation has shifted in recent months, especially in the wake of Ciryl Gane’s double eye stab against Tom Aspinall. As someone who has been a referee at the elite level for many years, Herb Dean has been there and seen it all when it comes to these types of issues.
Herb Dean is one of the most well-known referees in the game and while he may not always be the most popular person, he is certainly still someone who plies his trade at the top of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Looking ahead to the future, it’s hard to imagine Herb not being in charge of some of the biggest title fights in the game.
In a recent interview, Herb Dean spoke candidly about the aforementioned eye poke topic.
Herb Dean’s take on eye pokes in MMA
“Okay, so I have my hand on your head controlling your head, fine. But of course you don’t like that, you don’t want your head to be controlled and you start moving your head around wildly and suddenly you have your eye on a finger. You actually have your eye on a finger because you’re doing the right thing, but the way you chose to do it, you didn’t choose to back off, you started rolling your head and somehow a finger got stuck in the near your eye.”
“What I’m saying is that we can’t automate things, so there has to be discretion.”
Quotes via ACD MMA
Overall, we just hope that more penalties are introduced in the future to get this issue under control.
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