Longtime official Herb Dean has found himself in hot water once again after a controversial call at UFC 332 in Salt Lake City, Utah. The veteran referee officiated the King Green vs. Esteban Ribovics fight on the main card, which quickly spiraled into chaos during the finishing sequence.

In the heated showdown, Ribovics scored multiple knockdowns over Green. However, when the Argentine dropped his opponent for the third time in the first round, Dean stepped in to stop the bout at the 4:08 mark. Green wasn’t pleased with the stoppage and started protesting immediately. Looking at the objection, Ribovics boastfully approached Green, but Dean grabbed the 30-year-old and almost shoved him outside the Octagon. 

Fortunately, the pandemonium ended with Green and Ribovics embracing each other. Reporters later asked Dana White about Herb Dean’s stoppage, and the UFC CEO made it clear that he wasn’t a fan of it.

“Herb is having a rough f—king year,” White said at the UFC 332 post-fight presser. “You know Bobby was landing… but he got dropped like three times in a row. So, I have seen worse stoppages.” 

Dana White didn’t outright trash Herb Dean for his stoppage. But his reaction suggested the veteran referee could have handled the situation differently by offering Green a little more chance to survive, since he wasn’t completely defenseless. 

Still, as the UFC boss pointed out, Dean has come under scrutiny multiple times for his questionable calls this year. 

In June, referee Herb Dean failed to call out Ciryl Gane‘s illegal strikes to the back of the head against Alex Pereira in the UFC White House co-main event. The veteran referee’s stoppage drew plenty of ire from ‘Poatan,’ who outright demanded the UFC fire him. However, that’s just one of the controversies Dean has been embroiled in this year.

At UFC Vegas 119, featherweight veteran Andre Fili complained to Herb Dean about his opponent Vinicius Oliveira’s several shots to the back of the head that he didn’t call out during the fight.  

After two major controversies, another one followed for the veteran ref at UFC Baku 2026, when Herb Dean didn’t deduct a point from Shara Magomedov after he committed multiple fouls against Michel Pereira. The Brazilian subsequently getting cut from the promotion amplified the backlash around Dean.

With those instances in mind, Herb Dean’s latest call is just an addition to his growing list of controversies this year. A couple of big events, UFC 333 and UFC 334, along with the recently developing UFC 335, are still left on the calendar, and more controversy could follow for Dean.

That said, King Green has finally broken his silence over Herb Dean’s premature stoppage of his fight. 

King Green breaks silence after Herb Dean controversially stopped his fight at UFC 332 

Right after the debated ending of his fight, King Green went live on his social media account. He clarified that he had already asked Herb Dean not to stop the fight until he got out. But when the ref didn’t honor that request, Green appeared to hold some anger toward the official.

“Wow, oh wow,” Green said. “S—t. Man. Great fight. S—t happens. I told myself, regardless or not, I’m not gonna be mad at myself, but I’m a little mad. I told Herb this is gonna get sticky. Let me go on my shield. I was still fine.

“Everybody that supported, everybody that was cheering me on, I love you guys. I’m fine. I’m great. I feel like I’m gonna fight next f—king week. You know me, and so thank you so much for the support. I love you guys, and I will be back very soon.”

For Green, it’s understandable that he wasn’t happy with how the finishing sequence turned out, because he had a pretty heated build-up against Esteban Ribovics before the fight.

The Argentine missed the lightweight non-title fight limit by weighing in at 156.5 pounds, which is 0.5 lb over. Because of this, a brief confrontation between the two camps took place after Ribovics bumped into Green’s team at the fighter’s hotel. The depth of their animosity is what prompted Green to ask Herb Dean to let him fight on and leave no stone unturned.

It remains to be seen how many more assignments Herb Dean will take on with the UFC events left to close out 2026.