UFC president Dana White,[1] UFC color commentator Joe Rogan, articles covering MMA in ESPN.com,[2] Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, SB Nation (mmamania.com), Fightland and other publications have called Dean the gold standard for referees in MMA.

At 0:50 (50 seconds) of round one, Dean called a stop to the fight when he saw Sylvia's right forearm break due to an armbar.

Due to the close proximity of a UFC cameraman, in the video footage a shocked Dean can be heard shouting "Oh, shit!"

Sylvia protested, claiming his arm was perfectly fine and even moving it around with no apparent problems.

[4] At UFC 61, held on July 8, 2006, Dean served as referee of the highly anticipated rematch between Tito Ortiz and Ken Shamrock.

At UFC 70, held on April 21, 2007, Dean was the referee during the bout between Mirko Cro Cop and Gabriel Gonzaga.

Some fight analysts claim that Gonzaga was in fact administering ground and pound and had just maneuvered his opponent against the cage for an additional advantage.

[5] Filipović collapsed awkwardly after receiving the blow, pinning his right foot, which was rotated 180 degrees backwards, underneath his body.

Filipović has stated since that the elbows on the ground confused and damaged him enough that he was disoriented after the stand up, contributing to the subsequent knockout.

[11][12] At UFC 229, held on October 6, 2018, Dean refereed what is considered to be one of the most anticipated fights of all time, Khabib Nurmagomedov vs Conor McGregor.

A post fight video emerged where Dean was conversing with Khabib regarding the illegal moves by Conor not called during the match.