In his second appearance for the company at UFC 48 in June, Dean was the third man in the cage for the highly anticipated heavyweight title fight between Frank Mir and Tim Sylvia. Less than a minute into the first round, Dean jumped in and stopped the fight as he had seen Sylvia's right forearm break as a result of an armbar from Mir. Sylvia was still mexico email list trying to fight back when Herb Dean stopped him and was visibly upset, claiming that his arm was not broken and that he could still walk away. However, a close camera shot clearly showed the break and Sylvia later admitted that he knew his arm was broken and thanked Dean for stopping the fight and saving his career.
Since then, Dean has officiated some of the most legendary bouts in UFC history. He was the third man in the cage when Tito Ortiz and Ken Shamrock faced off at UFC 61 in 2006. He was there to raise Brock Lesnar's hand when he defeated Frank Mir at UFC 100. At UFC 182, he was right in the middle of the five-round battle between Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier. Simply put, if there's a big fight to be had, Herb Dean is there.
While every referee in the sport is going to face criticism from time to time, Herb Dean is the most respected official in the game. He has a huge reputation for being able to spot things that even the fighters themselves don't notice and has saved countless careers over the years. When the Referee of the Year was added as a category at the World MMA Awards in 2010, Dean was the winner for the first five years and has won the award for the past two years as well.