Copyright Yardbarker
UFC referees have arguably the most important job on fight night, to keep the fighters safe. The best thing a referee can do is not be known. The only reason we ever should be talking about UFC referees is if they’ve done a great job, whether it be spotting an eye poke, stopping a fighter from sustaining more damage or noticing something that we don’t see on the broadcast. With that being said, it’s becoming more frequent that UFC referees are making mistakes that are forcing them into the headlines. We know that UFC president Dana White isn’t afraid to cut a UFC referee, think Steve Mazzagatti or Mario Yamasaki… but we take a look at those that he hasn’t sacked. We rank the best UFC referees who feature most often on UFC cards. Understandably, referees from local associations are given the chance to referee on big cards, think Paris or London, however, we are only going to look at the most prominent UFC referees in our list. UFC Referees – The Ranking We are going to rank the following UFC referees: Mark Smith, Marc Goddard, Mike Beltran, Herb Dean, Jason Herzog, Dan Miragliotta, Keith Peterson and Chris Tognoni. We will be ranking them either A*, A, B or F. A* being the best of the best, A being a great pick for a main event, B highlighting a referee who is good but makes a lot of mistakes and F being a referee who needs to go back to a refereeing course. Without further ado, let’s go! A* Referees Marc Goddard and Jason Herzog There are only two referees at the moment who warrant the accolade of being in the A* tier and they are Marc Goddard and Jason Herzog. The reasons for this? Simple. They do their job and they do it well. Let’s look at Marc Goddard. He’s always clear and demands respect in the octagon. The Englishman commands the area and nothing is done without his say. Most of all, Goddard communicates with the fighters about any issues that may arise throughout the fight, makes them aware of what is going on and what is happening next. Of course, he isn’t without his flaws, like every other one of the UFC referees on this list. Notably, he’s been criticised for his early stoppages; however, we’d always rather a referee be too early than too late. Cedric Doumbé’s fight with Baissangour Chamsoudinov was stopped due to a toe injury suffered by Doumbé when Goddard was the referee. The fighter pleaded with the referee that he was suffering from a splinter being stuck in his foot, however, the referee stopped the bout as he assumed Doumbé didn’t want to fight. Despite these mistakes, he does more good than bad, is a dominant force in the octagon and you know what you get with Marc Goddard, making him an A* referee. That takes us on to Jason Herzog. Like Goddard, he’s a reliable pair of hands in the octagon. In difficult situations, such as during the UFC 321 main event, he keeps a cool head, follows protocol and more often than not comes to the logical conclusion. Although he does mistakes, he’s extremely transparent with them and is always looking to improve. During a fight featuring Drew Dober, Beltran allowed the American to receive multiple unanswered shots before stepping in to stop things. Likewise, in the bout between Trey Ogden and Nikolas Motta, Beltran stepped in to stop things despite no tap from Motta (who was stuck in a submission), nor was Motta unconscious. Not an amazing look for Beltran. Herb Dean is also one of the more well-recognised, well-respected UFC referees. With a five fight MMA career behind him, Dean knows what it’s like to be in the octagon, something that not all UFC referees can boast. He’s often selected as the head referee for UFC cards, showing just how respected he is within the business. He was hailed for his impressive stoppage in the UFC 48 heavyweight title bout between Tim Sylvia and Frank Mir. No one saw a tap and when Dean stepped in, everyone was surprised. On the replay, however, it was seen that Sylvia’s arm had snapped and despite initial protests, Sylvia thanked Dean for saving his career. With that being said, Herb Dean is responsible for some of the biggest ‘humdingers’ in UFC history. Strap in, this could be a long list. When Khalid Murtazaliev and CB Dollaway met on a fight night card, Dollaway received a brutal beating. Dollaway was not intelligently defending himself, and yet Dean allowed him to take a lot of damage before the round was up. Dollaway couldn’t make it back to his stool and the fight was called off. Dean also prematurely stopped the bout between Ben Askren and Robbie Lawler, however, on this occasion, he can’t be blamed entirely. Askren had Lawler in a bulldog choke and as Dean was checking on Lawler, his arm went limp. Dean stopped things, however, Lawler popped straight back up and protested the stoppage. With that being said, allowing your arm to go limp isn’t a normal response, especially if you’re not ‘out’. UFC commentator Dan Hardy and Herb Dean got into things when Dean didn’t step in and stop the fight between Francisco Trinaldo and Jai Herbert in 2020. Herbert was clearly out and defenceless, which led Hardy to stand up and scream, “He’s out!” to Herb Dean to encourage him to stop the fight. Despite all of these occasions, Dean has been trusted to referee some of the biggest fights in UFC history and will continue to do so going forward. Until recent events, Mark Smith would have been a borderline A* UFC referee. Not only did he referee the most bouts in 2023, but he is also a calm, authoritative figure in the octagon. After his famous “Fight’s on” phrase to kick off every fight, he’s more often than not anonymous in there, until he needs to be known. He’s constantly close enough to the action to step in whenever he’s needed and always gives fighters the chance to stay in the fight. Until this past weekend, Smith was one of the best, but the mistake he made in the fight between Waldo Cortes-Acosta and Ante Delija makes us doubt his ability. Following a sequence of unanswered shots, Smith jumped in shouting, “stop, stop, stop” without waving his hands above his head. Everyone assumed the obvious, that Delija had scored another finish victory. He ran back towards his corner and his team jumped on the cage to celebrate with him. The ‘loser’ of this fight was allowed to have his corner team come into the octagon, was allowed to sit on a stool and had two doctors looking at him. Smith quickly made Delija aware that there was a potential eye poke that could have led to the stoppage. With a break that lasted over five minutes (the allotted time for an eye poke situation), Smith restarted the bout, confusing everyone. On top of this, Cortes-Acosta went on to score a knockout, meaning that in a matter of moments, Delija went from the elation of scoring a finish victory to being on the wrong end of a vicious knockout. Smith dropped the ball on this one, but overall, he’s a solid third man in there. B Tier Referees Keith Peterson and Chris Tognoni B tier UFC referees refer to those who are sometimes given the main event slots, however, they are only ever trusted to referee fight night headliners. It’ll be extremely unlikely to catch either of these two men in the main event of a PPV and they aren’t often trusted with the ‘big’ fights. Keith Peterson and Chris Tognoni fall into this category. Keith Peterson shot into headlines when Dominick Cruz called him out for smelling like alcohol and cigarettes following Cruz’s loss to Henry Cejudo in 2020. Peterson stepped in to stop the fight too early, denying Cruz the chance to fully recover. He’s made a string of errors when he is scheduled to referee the ‘big’ fights, which is why he tends not to be given the opportunity very often. Notably, Peterson failed to address the fouls committed by Michael Chandler against Charles Oliveira in their rematch. He did the same (or didn’t) when Usman Nurmagomedov defeated Paul Hughes in their rematch earlier this year. His nickname ‘no nonsense’ has come round to bite him due to his multiple errors when given the big chances. He’s strict in there, but there’s huge room for improvement. Chris Tognoni isn’t a bad referee at all. Tognoni’s main issue is that he isn’t authoritative enough in the octagon. An official since 1997, Tognoni is often caught too far away from the action, which gets him into sticky situations. This leads to him missing key aspects of fights such as eye pokes. This past weekend he completely missed a tap, leading to the fighter getting put unconscious. This was massively criticised by fans and the media and will certainly play against Tognoni getting a big fight any time soon. It would be more of a surprise to see him in a PPV ‘big fight’ anytime soon. F Tier – Terrible Referee Dan Miragliotta The F tier is reserved for one man and one man only. ‘Big’ Dan Miragliotta. How Miragliotta gets given the responsibilities of some of the biggest fights is baffling. He’s not a competent referee and is one of the worst UFC referees in history. He debuted at UFC 78 and has featured in plenty of bouts throughout the years. The issue is, his pros don’t outweigh his cons. Yes, he is a strong presence in the octagon, he makes himself known and is trusted amongst those in the business. With that being said, the mistakes he makes are truly shocking. Starting off with recent events, Miragliotta failed to appropriately deal with a low blow situation between Kevin Holland and Mike Malott. The Canadian hit Holland with two low blows, the second of which seriously affected his game. Holland, in hindsight, shouldn’t have continued. He was no longer fit to fight. Was a point taken off? No. Earlier on the same night, Mirgliotta stepped in to stop a fight at the end of a round between Matt Frevola and Kyle Nelson after Nelson had knocked Frevola down and was close to a finish. Except, it wasn’t the end of the round. He stepped in and stopped the fight with three seconds left in the fight… to call the end of the round. A really confusing and terrible refereeing decision. On top of that, 16 unanswered shots at the hands of Nelson should have led to the stoppage beforehand.
