T.J. Dillashaw sounds off on Herb Dean for telling Merab Dvalishvili to be more active during Noche UFC 306 main event: "It's complete bullsh*t"

T.J. Dillashaw recently sounded off on Herb Dean for constantly telling Merab Dvalishvili that he needed to be more active during the Noche UFC 306 main event this past Saturday. The Georgian's gameplan of taking Sean O'Malley down and controlling him on the ground was successful, however, the referee wanted to see him do more while in that position and while they were on their feet.

Despite Dean's requests for more activity, the Georgian continued to push his aggressive pace and earned a unanimous decision to become the new bantamweight champion. Joe Rogan and Daniel Cormier both believed what Dvalishvili did was fine and questioned why he would have to be obliged to do more when he was most likely ahead on the judges' scorecards.

During the latest episode of Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson's JAXXON PODCAST, Dillashaw blasted the UFC official for his thought process behind requesting more activity. Dillashaw agreed with Rogan and Cormier and mentioned that the referee has no say in how a fighter competes:

"It's complete bullsh*t. You can't tell two fighters to work when they're on their feet, they can do whatever they want. I could run circles if I want to. You can't tell me to go work. It's not like I'm stalling against the cage or something, we're striking and you're going to tell me, 'Let's work', like, I might run into something now cause you're coaching me on how I'm supposed to fight...I thought it was very fu**ing weird." [1:33:42 - 1:34:02]

Check out the full episode of JAXXON PODCAST featuring T.J. Dillashaw below:

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Quinton Jackson agrees with T.J. Dillashaw and potential reason for the officiating

Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson agreed with T.J. Dillashaw's comments regarding Herb Dean's officiating during Sean O'Malley vs. Merab Dvalishvili and disclosed a potential reason why he officiated the bout the way he did.

During the aforementioned episode, Jackson mentioned that perhaps there was pressure from Dana White because the co-main event between Valentina Shevchenko and Alexa Grasso wasn't as exciting as they hoped:

"I think Dana White probably put a lot of pressure on [Dean]...They're at the Sphere. It's been a couple boring fights, Dana White probably getting in his ear like, 'Hey, we need these fights to be exciting', and this fight right here has the potential to be very boring as well." [1:34:11 - 1:34:51]

Check out the official judges' decision for Sean O'Malley vs. Merab Dvalishvili below: