Michel Pereira Goes After Herb Dean Following UFC Baku Defeat

UFC middleweight Michel Pereira went after referee Herb Dean following his decision loss to Shara Magomedov at UFC Baku.

The fight between Pereira and Magomedov, which served as UFC Baku‘s co-main event, was controversial due to the fouls that Magomedov committed against Pereira.

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In the first round, Pereira dropped Magomedov with a big strike, and the two fighters went to the ground. On the mat, Magomedov grabbed Pereira’s hair, a foul under the Unified Rules of MMA. While Dean paused the action to warn Magomedov about not grabbing the hair, he did not take a point from him for the foul.

Then, later on in the fight, Magomedov landed a blatant eye poke on Pereira after he had already been warned not to do so. Still, he got away with only a warning from Dean, who refused to take a point.

In the end, Pereira lost a unanimous decision with all three judges scoring the bout 29-28 for Magomedov. But had Dean taken a point, the fight would have been a unanimous draw instead, and Pereira is not happy about it.

Michel Pereira Goes After Herb Dean

Taking to his social media after his loss to Magomedov at UFC Baku, Pereira criticized Dean for not taking a point from Magomedov even though he committed several blatant fouls.

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“In MMA, there are rules. They must be applied with the same level of rigor to everyone. Respecting the rules means protecting the integrity of the sport and ensuring justice inside the Octagon. My opponent was warned several times and was not punished. When a rule is ignored, the result is compromised. Where’s the criterion, @herbdeanmma?” Pereira wrote on his Instagram, while also sharing a video showing the infractions that Magomedov committed in the fight.