MMA legend Chael Sonnen has defended the actions of referee Herb Dean after Kevin Holland brutally snapped the arm of his UFC 302 opponent.
It was one of the most gruesome ways to finish a UFC fight in recent memory, with veteran referee Herb Dean now receiving backlash online as fans argue that he should have stepped in before Kevin Holland secured a grisly submission win at UFC 302.
Kevin Holland snaps UFC 302 opponent’s arm in gruesome finish
After suffering two back-to-back defeats in the octagon, Kevin Holland was desperately in need of a statement victory on the main card of UFC 302 last night in Newark, New Jersey – and the ‘Trailblazer’ certainly got what he was looking for.
After being dropped by opponent Michal Oleksiejczuk in the first round, Holland transitioned to an armbar and when the Polish warrior refused to tap, the arm was snapped.
Speaking at the post-fight press conference, Holland was asked about the moment he felt the arm give way; admitting that he asked Herb Dean to step in a little earlier in order to avoid the injury.
“I asked him to stop it a little early, but Herb Dean was like ‘A little longer’ and I’m like ‘Cool, cool, cool’ – I’m a little nicer than big bro, big bro doesn’t f*** around…
“When I first put him in the armbar, I heard the pop. After that, it wasn’t popping again, so I was like, ‘I’m going to have to do a full-blown break.”
In the aftermath of such a gruesome finish, there have been calls online that referee Herb Dean should have stepped in and ended the fight due to the extension of the arm, despite Oleksiejczuk refusing to concede.
Chael Sonnen defends UFC referee Herb Dean over stoppage
In response to the criticism being levied against Herb Dean, MMA veteran Chael Sonnen has come out to defend the iconic referee, citing both his history with similar situations in previous UFC fights as well as the pressure on an official to save the fighter from unnecessary harm.
Speaking via his official YouTube channel, Sonnen fired back at those condemning the decision not to wave the fight off, regardless of whether Oleksiejczuk tapped out.
“Well, for anybody at home right now putting down on Herb Dean, because you would be wildly out of bounds to do so – oh my goodness, Herb Dean is put in the hardest spots, I have never seen a referee get put in harder spots.”
Sonnen cited the Frank Mir vs Tim Sylvia fight back in 2004 as one of the many extremely difficult situations that Dean has been forced into over the years.
“Herb Dean got put in a colossally tough position [during] Frank Mir vs Tim Sylvia – Mir has the armbar, Tim Sylvia does not tap, Herb Dean stops the fight, and the place goes crazy, including the boss. Then they show it on [the big screen] replay so that we can all get p***** off at Herb Dean.
“Well on replay when they zoom in [they see] it pops, his bone broke and when it broke it popped up to the skin, and the whole building that was booing Herb goes woah [in shock] … He’s handling these things perfectly, he really is.”
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Sonnen then explained why such a sickening question remains such “a colossally difficult thing to answer,” – do you let the arm break, or do you step in and take the power to withdraw away from a fighter at the top of the game?
“If you are the referee and you let it go, and you know enough about the sport that you know it’s going to break, however per the authority of the rules, do you let it break because at that point you can deem ‘He is injured and I’m not going to let the fight go on’.
“If you are Herb and the fighter’s made a very clear decision which is ‘I’m not going to tap’, and Herb is going ‘I don’t have a mechanism to stop the fight if you don’t tap’, but I know the same as you know in that it’s going to break… Herb did the right thing.”
Whether you think Dean made the right decision to let the submission finish the way it did, or not; the MMA community would be right to remember all the countless times Dean has made a split-second call in order to save an athlete from unwarranted damage or injury.