Herb Dean doubles down on controversial Adriano Moraes vs. Phumi Nkuta ruling: 'The right decision was made'

There was a lot of buzz around the first MMA event from Jake Paul’s Most Valuable Promotions on Netflix this past Saturday. While most of the night went off without a hitch , it wouldn’t have been a debut MMA show without a bit of controversy. On the preliminary portion of the card, former ONE Championship flyweight titleholder Adriano Moraes scored a stunning Hail Mary submission win over Phumi Nkuta.

Presumably down on the scorecards, Moraes locked on a late rear-naked choke after a scramble, ultimately putting Nkuta to sleep with zero seconds left in the third round. Veteran referee Herb Dean oversaw the action and ultimately ruled it a win for Moraes. Speaking on Monday’s edition of “The Ariel Helwani Show,” he explained why.

"I'm certain that the right decision was made,” Dean told Uncrowned. “What I saw was, at the end, he got caught in a rear-naked choke. [Moraes] was palm-to-palm grip.

I believe it was after the 10-second clapper, but it was right at the end. So he was giving it everything he's got because here's the opportunity. "When I stopped the match, there was a fraction of a second where he held onto the choke [late], and because of that, I wasn't exactly sure until I went and looked at a replay.