Charles
Oliveira is the latest
Ultimate Fighting Championship athlete to pile on the criticism
of referee Herb Dean.
The former UFC lightweight champion and current BMF titleholder has
slammed Dean’s lack of action towards Ciryl Gane
and broke down the much-discussed illegal strikes landed against
Alex
Pereira during the
UFC Freedom 250 co-main event. Gane ultimately won the fight,
and “do Bronxs” has now raised concerns over the referee’s
influence.
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Charles Oliveira criticizes Herb Dean after controversial UFC
Freedom 250 fight between Ciryl Gane and Alex Pereira
“Poatan reacted the right way [after the knockdown], going for the
legs to defend,”
Oliveira told MMA Fighting. “Then, in the middle of that
chaos—not because he’s Brazilian, but the whole world saw it and it
was obvious—some shots landed to the back of the head when they
shouldn’t have.”
Henry
Cejudo, Jorge
Masvidal and Dominick
Cruz are among those who’ve publicly criticized Dean so far,
with Pereira leading the charge, repeatedly taking to social media
to show his frustration.
Charles Oliveira compares Ciryl Gane’s title win to Michael
Chandler bout
Oliveira then drew parallels between the Pereira vs. Gane bout and
his own title fight against Michael
Chandler at UFC 262. The Brazilian alleged that Chandler
poked his eye and landed shots to the back of the head.
Highlighting how an early stoppage could’ve derailed his success at
the time, he said, “If I had lost to Michael Chandler that night,
if the referee had stopped the fight, would my career have
continued with the same momentum? Would I have gone on the run that
I did?”
“I think there’s a referee there to understand what’s right and
what’s wrong, whether it’s time to stop the action or not,”
Oliveira added. “I put all the responsibility on the referee, just
like I did with the referee in my fight. I think he should have
stopped the fight and said, ‘Man, you’re doing something
wrong.’”