Video: Watch Herb Dean’s botched stoppage from UFC 257 PPV

Herb Dean is one of the most tenured and experienced referees in the sport, but he certainly isn’t immune to blunders, and he had one at UFC 257.

Marina Rodriguez landed a perfect right straight that face planted Amanda Ribas. As she pounced and landed a few shots to try and end the fight, Ribas briefly went limp again and referee Dean stepped in.

Rodriguez celebrated as Dean made some contact with her — which should signal a stoppage — but the fight wasn’t over. Dean hesitated in a terrible way, and he decided that he didn’t officially wave the fight off yet.

Ribas was able to get up and the fight was weirdly restarted instead. Rodriguez pounced again, hurt Ribas, and eventually got a stoppage.

The right person still won, so a lot of controversy were avoided. A lot of things could’ve gone wrong after that botched stoppage though, and it also seemed like those next few shots Ribas took were unnecessary.

Officiating is certainly a tough and thankless job, and this is one of the examples. Watch the clip of the stoppage below.