Is UFC referee Herb Dean a millionaire? Net worth including salary and other ventures revealed

Herb Dean is widely regarded as one of the greatest referees in MMA history. The 53-year-old California native has been officiating MMA bouts since 2002. Besides, Dean made his UFC debut as a referee at UFC 47 in April 2004.

Many herald him among the richest MMA referees. The consensus is that Dean's primary source of income is his job as an MMA referee. He notably officiates fights for the UFC, ONE Championship, and other MMA organizations too.

As per the latest updates reported by celebritynetworth.com, Herb Dean's net worth in 2023 is around $2.5 million. His annual salary as an MMA referee is approximately $500,000.

Dean (2-3 MMA) briefly competed as a professional MMA fighter several years ago, contributing to his net worth. He's also worked as an actor in a few movies, such as Here Comes the Boom, A Violent Man, and The Divine Fury. The popular MMA personality has amassed several awards for his work as a referee.

Furthermore, Herb Dean works as a teacher -- offering official MMA certification courses for aspiring referees and judges in the sport of MMA. The courses generally involve classroom lectures and presentations regarding topics such as the ABC Unified Rules, scoring criteria, judging guidelines, etc.

The courses comprise written testing as well. Dean presents MMA event videos to the students, which are utilized for mock judging, debate and discussion, and calibration of the MMA bouts' scoring.

Dean continues to work as an MMA referee, officiating some of the most high-profile fights in the sport. Over his long and storied career as an MMA referee, he's been lauded for making many excellent in-cage decisions whilst also being criticized for his rare errors.

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When Herb Dean thanked Joe Rogan for helping him after much-discussed UFC 48 title fight stoppage

Back in 2019, Herb Dean spoke to UFC commentator Joe Rogan on the latter's JRE podcast, wherein the duo recalled Dean's legendary call that saved UFC heavyweight Tim Sylvia from serious damage. During round one of Sylvia's fight against Frank Mir for the vacant UFC heavyweight title at UFC 48 on June 19, 2004, the former was caught in an armbar by Mir.

Referee Herb Dean, who was right beside the fighters, watched as Mir's armbar caused Sylvia's arm to break. Dean waved the fight off but was met with protest by Sylvia. Ringside physician Dr. Margaret Goodman and many others, including UFC CEO Dana White, were initially convinced by Sylvia that he was fit to continue.

However, Rogan, who was working as a commentator at the event, examined the replays and highlighted that Dean made the right call. The doctors, too, eventually diagnosed Sylvia with a broken arm. Harking back to the time Rogan helped vindicate him at UFC 48, Dean lightheartedly stated the following on the JRE podcast:

"So, I'm gonna thank you for that right there because my career path would've been different."

Watch Dean and Rogan discuss the topic in the video below: