Alex Pereira has heard the boos, and he admits they get to him a little. The Brazilian told Ariel Helwani, speaking in Portuguese in comments reported by MMA Junkie, that he sometimes feels bad for Herb Dean, the veteran referee who has been getting jeered at UFC events ever since Pereira publicly ripped his officiating. He also made it clear he isn’t taking a single word back.
“I see everything that’s going on, and sometimes I do feel bad because I know it’s his job, but when I spoke, I was just advocating because he’s the guy to be there who’s supposed to be protecting the fighters and avoid that something worse could happen to a fighter,” Pereira said. “I had to speak my mind. But yeah, I do feel bad for him sometimes, some certain ways.”
If you’ve watched a card lately, you know the routine. Dean gets introduced on the broadcast and the arena screens as the third man in the cage for an upcoming bout, and the crowd lets him have it. It has happened at event after event now, which is a rare kind of fame for a referee.
View post on X
The whole thing traces back to June and Pereira’s interim heavyweight title fight with Ciryl Gane at UFC Freedom 250. Pereira got knocked down, and he believes Gane hit him in the back of the head afterward, which he says should have gotten Gane disqualified. Dean let it play out, Gane wasn’t penalized, and Gane walked away with the TKO win. Pereira took his complaint to the media, and fans picked up the torch. MMA Junkie noted the sour mood toward Dean has stuck around all through 2026, possibly helped along by other questionable calls he’s been part of.
Sympathy only goes so far, though. Pereira wants Dean out of his fights, full stop.
“I don’t know how things role in the fight night, but if i can have a choice, I definitely don’t want him refereeing my fights no more,” he said.
His next one is close. Pereira faces Sergei Pavlovich in the co-main event of UFC 335 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Dec. 12, and he isn’t thrilled about how he got there. He wanted either a rematch with Gane or a fight with Josh Hokit, and he says he was told one of those was on the table.
“They’re going according to what we have on the contract,” Pereira said. “I said I would fight anybody and things like that. What got me upset was that they told me that I was going to possibly fight (Ciryl) Gane for the belt or fight (Josh) Hokit, and none of that happened, but they do whatever they want.”
My take: this is about the most Poatan answer possible. He feels for the guy as a human being, he still thinks the guy blew it, and he says both in about four sentences without a hint of PR polish. I respect that a lot more than a fake olive branch. The bigger beef might actually be with the UFC, since dangling a Gane title rematch and then handing him Pavlovich is exactly the kind of bait and switch that makes fighters stop trusting the matchmakers. And if Dean’s face shows up on the T-Mobile screens before Pereira vs. Pavlovich on Dec. 12, Las Vegas is going to be loud enough to rattle the cage padding.
