Herb Dean’s Net Worth, Wife, and Salary

Herb Dean was born in Pasadena, California in 1970. He began martial arts at the age of nine and practised in a variety of disciplines throughout his adolescence. Notably, Dean trained with Frank Trejo while UFC 1 was still in its early stages. He kept training with Trejo and ultimately expanded his schedule to include judo and jiu-jitsu. Later, in 1996, Dean met boxer Larry Landless, who introduced him to MMA training at Los Angeles’ Submission Factory. Dean is married to Victoria, a Russian lady. The pair resides in Los Angeles.

Career

Dean has officiated in a number of noteworthy matches over his tenure. Among them was Tim Sylvia vs. Frank Mir at UFC 48 in the summer of 2004. When Dean realised Sylvia had broken his arm, he tried to halt the battle, but Sylvia disagreed and urged that the fight should continue. Dr Margaret Goodman, the ringside physician, was eventually able to stop the match. Another important fight at UFC 61 was a rematch between Tito Ortiz and Ken Shamrock. Dean intervened once more to stop the bout, this time after Ortiz delivered several unanswered elbows to Shamrock’s head. Dean awarded Ortiz a TKO victory, infuriating Shamrock, who had to be escorted out of the Octagon.

Dean officiated the fight between Gabriel Gonzaga and Mirko Filipovi at UFC 70 in 2007. Dean stood up from the guard position in this vicious match, followed by Gonzaga knocking Filipovi out with a kick to the head. Filipovi’s right foot was turned 180 degrees backward and trapped beneath his body following the strike. Dean untied him from the pin to avoid catastrophic damage. Dean was later lauded as the greatest referee in the game by UFC president Dana White during UFC 109 due to his excellent eye and judgement. Dean has also referred to Renzo Gracie, Chuck Liddell, Quinton Jackson, Randy Couture, and George St. Pierre, among many others.

Despite his triumphs and countless accolades, Dean has not been without controversy in the ring. He was chastised for stopping the main event bout between Urijah Faber and Renan Baro for the UFC bantamweight title at UFC 169. Dean received more criticism in 2018 for a late stoppage of a bout between C. B. Dollaway and Khalid Murtazaliev at UFC bout Night: Hunt vs. Oleinik. Another notable criticism occurred in March 2019 at UFC 235, when Dana White chastised Dean for handing a victory to Ben Askren, who had performed a bulldog choke against Robbie Lawler.

Dean is a professional MMA fighter with a 2-3 record. He defeated Randy Halmot by submission in his professional debut battle at Gladiator Challenge 6 in September 2001. In early 2003, he was defeated by Joe Riggs in his next encounter. The next year, Dean defeated Timothy Mendoza via TKO at KOTC 39: Hitmaster. He then fell to Jung Gyu Choi and Dave Legeno in his following two matches.

Dean also provides official MMA certification classes to prospective referees and judges in addition to refereeing. Classroom lectures, written tests, and presentations include topics such as ABC Unified Rules, judging rules, and scoring criteria. Dean also shows event video for mock judging, debate, and score calibration.

Dean has had a few appearances on the big screen outside of the ring. In 2012, he appeared as himself in the comedy “Here Comes the Boom,” which also starred Kevin James, Henry Winkler, and Salma Hayek. Later, in 2017, he appeared in the film “A Violent Man.” Dean appeared in another South Korean action horror film, “The Divine Fury,” two years later, as a disturbed boy who gains divine abilities and becomes an MMA fighter.

Dean was named World MMA Awards Referee of the Year by Fighters Only Magazine in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2018, and 2019.

Net Worth

Herb Dean is a $2.5 million dollar net-worth American mixed martial arts referee and retired boxer. He is widely regarded as the gold standard in MMA as a referee for the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Dean also earned the Fighters Only Magazine World MMA Award for Referee of the Year every year from 2010 to 2014 and will do so again in 2019 and 2020. Herb Dean is paid $500,000 per year by the UFC.

Facts