Referees, judges set for UFC 270 headliners

Herb Dean will oversee the heavyweight title unifier between undisputed champ Francis Ngannou and interim champ Ciryl Gane at UFC 270.

Dean joins judges Sal D’Amato, Ron McCarthy and Derek Cleary as the officials for the pay-per-view headliner, which takes place Saturday at Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif. The event will be regulated by the California State Athletic Commission, which assigned referees and judges. Pay information for the officials was not immediately available.

Over the past year, Dean has been a regular subject of controversy for his calls inside the octagon. But he has continued to receive high-profile assignments as one of the most experienced referees in the sport and has been praised countless times by promoters before a recent spate of decisions were questioned by UFC staffers and industry vets.

D’Amato, McCarthy and Cleary remain regular fixtures of marquee fights in the UFC’s home state of Nevada. D’Amato, for example, scored at 44 octagon events in 2021, per MMADecisions.com.

Serving as the referee in the co-headliner for UFC 270 is Jason Herzog, who joins judges Chris Crail, Wade Vierra and Michael Bell as the officials assigned to a flyweight title trilogy between champ Brandon Moreno and ex-champ Deiveson Figueiredo. Herzog has been a regular fixture of UFC and Bellator events, while Vierra and Bell have logged the most experience on scorecards. Crail has scored seven events in the past seven years, six of which took place under the Bellator banner, per MMADecisions.com.