Herb Dean will make $1,900 to referee next week’s UFC light heavyweight title fight between champ Jon Jones and Thiago Santos.
The Nevada Athletic Commission voted unanimously to appoint referee Dean and assigned judging duties to Mike Bell, Derek Cleary and Junichiro Kamijo for the UFC 239 headliner between Jones (24-1 MMA, 18-1 UFC) and Santos (21-6 MMA, 13-5 UFC), which takes place July 6 takes place at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The judges will make $1,600 each for the job.
Additionally, the commission unanimously approved Marc Goddard as the referee for a women’s bantamweight title fight between champ Amanda Nunes (17-4 MMA, 10-1 UFC) and ex-champ Holly Holm (12-4 MMA, 5-4 UFC). Judges for the bout are Dave Hagen, Sal D’Amato and Chris Lee. The officials will make the same pay.
NAC Executive Director Bob Bennett told the commission he consulted with UFC VP of Regulatory Affairs Marc Ratner. Bennett did not say whether he’d also consulted the fighters’ camps prior to his recommendations.
All of the officials are well-known fixtures in Nevada for major fight cards. Dean is one of the busiest referees in the business, having overseen dozens of high-profile pay-per-views including the UFC 229 blockbuster between UFC lightweight champ Khabib Nurmagomedov and Conor McGregor.
For complete coverage of UFC 239, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.
