Herb Dean reveals: 'When Anderson fell, I thought it was another one of his acts'

At this point, Herb Dean no longer had any doubts that the fight was over. Photo: Josh Hedges/UFC

the posture of Anderson Silva in the octagon aiming to destabilize his opponent, with his guard down and his simulations, he almost missed the wrong target. In an interview with the website MMA Junkie, Herb Dean, judge responsible for the fight in which Anderson ended up defeated by Chris Weidman at UFC 162, he commented on the Brazilian's behavior and revealed that he was unsure whether Spider had actually been knocked out or was just pretending.

“It didn’t bother me at all. If that was what he (Anderson Silva) I wanted to do it, that's fine with me. Everyone has their own reasons for doing what they do inside. He was there to do something spectacular, and he challenged himself to do what he did while in his opponent's range. He was using his strategy. But when he was hit and fell, I thought it was another of his acts, as it was a scene very similar to the ones I had already seen him do. I wondered if it was an act or not, and moved closer to get a better view. When I got close to him and looked closer, I saw that he was indeed unconscious,” Dean said.

The referee, who had his leg grabbed by Anderson when the Brazilian recovered from the knockout, also spoke about his surprise with the way the fight ended. “When two extremely well-trained guys try to outdo each other inside the octagon, anything can happen. But because of the way it all happened, and because of Anderson Silva have been caught in the middle of your movements to distract Chris Weidman, it was really surprising”, added Herb Dean.

Last Saturday (6), Chris Weidman imposed the Anderson Silva the first knockout of his career, in the second round of the main fight of UFC 162, in Las Vegas (USA). With the victory, the undefeated North American won the Ultimate middleweight title, which had been with Spider since October 2006.