A lot has been made on the incident between Dan Hardy and Herb Dean, and “Big” John McCarthy has his own take.
Dean served as an official for UFC on ESPN 14 on July 25. There were two bouts that many felt Dean stopped too late, with one being considered to be egregious by some. Color commentators Hardy and Paul Felder were critical of Dean’s officiating. Hardy lost his cool with Dean’s stoppage of Francisco Trinaldo vs. Jai Herbert. The two exchanged words after the bout and the UFC is looking into the incident.
‘Big’ John Says Herb Dean Was In No-Win Situation
During an edition of the Weighing In podcast, McCarthy, who is a former referee, said that had Hardy been in Herbert’s shoes, he wouldn’t have been complaining about being given a chance to recover (h/t MMAFighting).
“You know the fact that Dan Hardy is friends with Jai, likes him and watches him fight in England,” McCarthy added. “Well he got all upset because his guy took extra shots and ok. But, if Dan Hardy was the guy who got hit and went down and someone stopped it, he would be standing up like Dominick Cruz. ‘You stopped it too soon!’ Can’t win.”
McCarthy did agree that he felt there was no chance Herbert would’ve been able to get back in the fight. With that said, “Big” John thinks there would’ve been complaints had Dean stopped it sooner. He feels Dean genuinely thought Herbert was intelligently defending himself.
What is your take on the spat between Dan Hardy and Herb Dean?
