'Big' John McCarthy says Alex Pereira has it all wrong with Herb Dean controversy in UFC White House fight
Drake RiggsUncrownedTue, June 30, 2026 at 9:21 PM UTC·6 min readOfficiating has been a hot topic throughout the MMA world since Alex Pereira suffered a second-round knockout loss to Ciryl Gane at UFC Freedom 250 at the White House. In the aftermath of the now-controversial finish, Pereira has campaigned vigoriously for referee Herb Dean's removal from the sport.
Veteran referee “Big” John McCarthy, however, doesn't believe the backlash is justified. Pereira's main complaint pointed to the nature of several Gane strikes, which he believes illegally landed on the back of his head. Dean responded to the claims with an explanatory video outlining what constitutes the illegal back-of-the-head zone. Speaking on Tuesday's edition of "The Ariel Helwani Show," McCarthy reaffirmed that Dean's explanation and citation of the "two-inch" strip surface area was accurate.
AdvertisementAdvertisement"Not one of those was an illegal shot," McCarthy told Uncrowned. "That is not an illegal elbow to the back of the head. That is a legal shot right there, because that would be hitting right where it's even past the crown of the head. So that's a legal shot, the back of the head.
"Here's the problem — we have all these different commissions, we have different groups, we have different people. And when the unified rules was put together, I made it as open as I could with what was occurring at the time, as far as what the back of the head is. We were coming into the world of boxing — the commissions were very comfortable with the boxing world. They were not comfortable with MMA. So they wanted to go with headphones, which is boxing — that is what the back of the head is. Medically speaking, they're right — it's what the back of the head is. But boxing is a 180-degree sport, meaning we cut that boxer like the headphones straight down, and straight down the sides and at the waist. That's your legal areas. You can't touch their back, you can't do anything. MMA is a completely different sport. MMA is a 360-degree sport.
"Let's go back to the early days, there was no back of the head, OK?" McCarthy continued. "They were allowed to hit everywhere that was possible. We didn't have any complaints. We didn't have people getting hit and going, 'Oh, oh my God.' They knew they could be hit. Now, again, when you believe that you can't be hit somewhere, and you get hit there right away, it's an attention-getter. And you're thinking, 'Hey, you can't hit me there.' So I'm not blaming the fighter in any way. But the back of the head starts at the crown of the head — that is meaning that all of this on top, all of this is good."
AdvertisementAdvertisementThe controversy raised by Pereira has not only put a target on Dean’s performance as a referee, but also added fuel to accusations that Gane is a dirty fighter. Before their White House clash, Gane saw his prior title fight with Tom Aspinall end in a no-contest last October after accidental eye-pokes from Gane rendered Aspinall unable to continue.
When examining this latest fight, McCarthy admits a couple of Gane elbows appeared to land illegally, but not all of them. Overall, he doesn't believe Gane meant to attack the back of the head.
As for Dean, McCarthy noted times when Dean intervened appropriately and why we don't see him do so as often as would be expected.
"Is there times when Herb possibly could take a point, and he doesn't? Sure, absolutely," McCarthy said. "But there's times that I can look at and say, alright, let's look at Cody Garbrandt vs. [Xiao Long]. How many points did he take? Two. On two different occasions. You had a groin shot that occurred, he didn't take points. He gave a warning. Then you have another one that occurs shortly thereafter, and Cody's down for a while. He takes a point, then they come together, and he has another groin strike, and he takes another point. So there are times that I can point out Herb has been absolutely on top of things and he'll take points.
"I'm going to say this straight out: Herb Dean is a friend of mine. I love Herb. Herb is one of the nicest human beings that you will ever find. And the one thing I will say is he doesn't want to interfere with the fight. He doesn't. And I don't. No referee does. The greatest fight I can have is a fight where someone goes, 'Who was the referee of that one?' Perfect, because that means that I didn't have to really get involved. I didn't have to do a whole lot. I got to move around in there and just see things. If I had to say something, I said something to someone, but no one knew about it, really. So it was clean and easy.
“Those fights happen,” he continued. “Many times, they don't, and you have to involve and bring yourself into the equation of it. But no referee should ever want to be the difference-maker in the fight. We want the fighters to settle that."
Whether it's judging or refereeing, officials are highly prone to criticism. When that criticism comes in abundance over a short window, it tends to give the appearance as if changes are never being made and the state of MMA officiating is at an all-time low.
AdvertisementAdvertisementMcCarthy views the shifts in the media landscape throughout the years as a big reason for that. Nothing will ever be perfect, so with that in mind, there will always be necessary adjustments to make, he said.
"There's always going to be stuff we'll have to fix and clean up," McCarthy said. "I tell people all the time, look, we're human. I don't care who you are as an official — you're going make mistakes. The sport is too fast. There's too many things going on to sit there and say, 'Oh, you'll never make a mistake.' You're going to make mistakes.
"Right now, it's not so much the media. Media has changed so much as far as — Ariel, you're the media. You're actual media. The fans have become media through social media. And they have the right to say whatever they want, they have the right to their opinion. All of that is fine. But at this moment, they are good at attacking officials over the slightest thing that happens. And I call it the flavor of the week or month, because they had a score someone didn't like or made a call someone didn't like, so you're going to be that flavor of the week or month.
"Are the fans in a position to want perfection? Sure, they are," McCarthy added. "Do we want perfection? Yes, we do. Is it possible? Not in every fight. I'm just being honest. We try. But that's part of when I'm instructing people or talking with my peers, it's, 'Hey, be honest about if you could have done something better. What is it? What could you have done that made this better?' We're never going to be exactly what everybody wants."
Ukraine slams Moscow with another massive drone assault: ‘Step by step, we are implementing our plan’
Ukraine slams Moscow with another massive drone assault- US News
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Ukraine slams Moscow with another massive drone assault: ‘Step by step, we are implementing our plan’
By Ronny Reyes Published June 30, 2026, 6:33 p.m. ETSee more of our coverage in your search results.
Add The New York Post on GoogleUkraine hit Moscow with a large-scale drone attack overnight, striking one of the Russian capital’s largest satellite communication centers for the second time in a week, officials said.
Kyiv fired more than 60 drones at Moscow late Monday as part of a large wave of attacks over the border that saw Russia scramble to take out 419 drones across 18 regions.
The attack struck Moscow’s Dubna communication center, which sits 310 miles past the border, for yet another time.
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the center served as a “reconnaissance and for coordinating the activity of Russia’s occupation contingent in Ukraine.
“Recently, our Defense Forces of Ukraine already reached four such Russian centers, not only in the Moscow region but also in the Vladimir region,” Zelensky wrote on X.
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“Step by step, we are implementing our plan of long-range sanctions and making it as difficult as possible for the aggressor state to carry out its invasion operations against Ukraine and the occupation of our territories.”
Ukraine has ramped up its pressure campaign against the Kremlin this year, with drone attacks in Moscow becoming more and more common and spurring discontent among Russians over dictator Vladimir Putin’s war.
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The strikes have been heavily focused on Russia’s oil and energy infrastructure, with Putin forced to admit Monday that the country was facing fuel shortages because of his war against Ukraine.
The intense strikes have reportedly begun to whittle away part of Moscow’s defenses, with the Ukrainian military attributing a hole in the “enemy’s air defense system” for successful strikes on the capital and St. Petersburg.
The Kremlin slammed the latest attacks on Moscow, telling reporters that the drone assault led to the deaths of civilians, including children.
Moscow regional official Andrey Vorobyov said a 6-month-old baby was killed Tuesday when a drone crashed into a home southeast of the capital.
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Jalen Ramsey Points Out What Makes Deion Sanders Different
Jalen Ramsey Points Out What Makes Deion Sanders Different
A few Colorado Buffaloes heard from NFL cornerback Jalen Ramsey about what makes Coach Prime different during their summer leadership retreat.Liam Howard|
In this story:
Colorado BuffaloesThe Colorado Buffaloes took a leadership retreat to coach Deion Sanders’s Texas ranch during the final week of June. Transfer Buffs and returning players used the time to build chemistry and learn from some of the top influences in the football world.
Those influences, of course, included Coach Prime himself, but also an important guest speaker. NFL cornerback and safety Jalen Ramsey spoke to the team, giving the players career advice and helping put their circumstances into perspective. Part of that included telling the players how lucky they are to have the unique experience of learning under Coach Prime and his staff.
What Jalen Ramsey said about Deion Sanders and his staff
One of the themes most consistent in Ramsey’s conversation with the players was the reminder of how unique their situation is. Playing for arguably the greatest cornerback to ever play the game is an uncommon benefit, to say the least, and Ramsey told the players how they can use those circumstances to shape how they play.
“Being in the presence of greatness, you can’t really pay any of these coaches back for any of that,” said Ramsey to Colorado players in a YouTube video posted by Well Off Media. “The only way you can pay somebody back for that is by being yourself in a respectful way, but also by the way that you play for them…That [greatness] isn’t normal…it isn’t like that anywhere else.”
As a three-time first-team All-Pro, an eight-time Pro Bowler, a National Champion in college and a Super Bowl Champion in the NFL, Ramsey has had about as ideal a career path as a football player could ask for. Still, he even claimed that he wouldn’t have ended up at Florida State had a staff like Colorado’s existed during his college career.
How the Colorado Buffaloes’ leaders feel about Deion Sanders
Colorado’s players were receptive to Ramsey’s advice. Several players present at the retreat chimed in on the differences they’ve noticed between Coach Prime and any other coach they’ve played under.
A pair of SEC transfers in former Texas Longhorns wide receiver DeAndre Moore Jr. and former Georgia Bulldogs offensive lineman Bo Hughley spoke about the differences in coaching relationships they’ve seen since joining the Buffs.
They claimed they hadn’t been able to be themselves or form close relationships with their coaches at their former stops, and that it was a hindrance to their play and personal lives. Since arriving in Boulder, that hasn’t been a worry of theirs, as they’ve formed tight bonds with Coach Prime and other members of the staff.
Freshman offensive lineman Xavier Payne gave his thoughts on the Buffs’ unique closeness with their head coach as well. Although this is his first season at the college level, Payne still identified how unique an experience like Coach Prime’s leadership retreat is.
As the team takes shape ahead of the 2026 season, the retreat, as well as what the players learned from Ramsey, will play major roles in their chemistry. Sanders’s players are bought in, and the program’s leadership appears to have made great strides since 2025.
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Published 7 minutes ago
LIAM HOWARDLiam Howard is a Colorado Buffaloes On SI beat reporter and a men’s basketball beat writer and sportscaster for Sko Buffs Sports. A Longmont, Colorado native, he has built a diverse portfolio across sports media, with experience in broadcast production, graphic design, and documentary storytelling. Known for his detailed coverage of college athletics, Howard is also the founder and host of SBS Football Live, where he provides thoughtful analysis and original reporting.
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