Just watched the fight over again, heres my 2 cents...
First, herb dean sucks he obviously does not know the rules of the sport.
Arlovski stikes de pano with his heal while on the ground in a deliberate kick that herb dean stopped him and warned him about.
Herb then told both fighters to stand back up.
then after some talk, pe de pano was able to change herb dean's mind about standing the fighters back up, this could be because of pe de pano's comfort in a leg lock situation. Also randy couture suggesting to
"let them go".
Either way, this proves that herb is brain dead on unable/unsure of what call he should make. As a professional reff in this sport there should be no hesitation or grey area on how to call the rules.
so what are the rules??
if a fighter kicks illeaglly while on the ground...are the fighters stopped...warned...then started standing? or resume in the postion they last left off?
obviously he doesnt know.
Somone also mentioned the fact that arlovski was holding the fence while finishing pe de pano...and that the fence gave him the neccessarily leverage to win the fight.
i agree 1/2 on this.
I think that herb dean should have knocked his hand away from the fence and warned him..if he simply didnt see it...that just contributes the the fact that hes a shitty reff.
i dont however think that the holding of the fence had much to do with the leverage on the punches being delievered to pe de pano, i think he would have connected with those just as well without grasping the fence.
As far as the punches to the back of the head,
arlovski several times put effort into aiming for the side or the front of pe de pano, before and after herd dean warned him. He didnt have much of a target cuz pe de pano was tucking his chin.
i think arlovski did the right thing, and the smart thing.
i dont think herb should have stopped him from punching, and that simply warning him was good enough, especially because he stopped the fight shortly after.
Joe