UFC star Alex Pereira expressed sympathy towards MMA referee Herb Dean, who has been getting booed routinely by fans at UFC events.

Dean was heavily criticized by Pereira in the wake of his TKO loss to Ciryl Gane at UFC Freedom 250 in June, in a failed attempt to win the interim UFC heavyweight title. Since then, other fighters have spoken up about Dean’s inconsistent officiating, and now, when he is introduced as the ref at UFC events, the fans boo him.

Pereira feels bad.

Alex Pereira Feels Bad for Herb Dean

Speaking on “The Ariel Helwani Show,” Pereira admitted that he feels bad for Dean now.

“I see everything that’s going on, and sometimes I do feel bad because I know it’s his job, but when I spoke, I was just advocating because he’s the guy to be there who’s supposed to be protecting the fighters and avoid that something worse could happen to a fighter. I had to speak my mind. But yeah, I do feel bad for him sometimes, some certain ways,” Pereira said (via MMAjunkie.com).

Alex Pereira Doesn’t Want Herb Dean to Officiate His Fights

While Pereira does have sympathy for what Dean has been going through, getting booed by the fans so much lately, he doesn’t want the veteran referee to officiate any of his fights going forward.

“I don’t know how things role in the fight night, but if I can have a choice, I definitely don’t want him refereeing my fights no more,” Pereira said.

While the athletic commissions ultimately make the final call on which referees will officiate the fights, they will take into consideration when a certain fighter believes that there is an issue with a referee, so it’s possible that Dean won’t ref Pereira’s fights anymore since there was clearly an issue between the two.

Pereira, by the way, makes his long-awaited return to the Octagon at UFC 335 in December when he takes on Sergei Pavlovich in a heavyweight slugfest. If Pereira wins that fight, then he is expected to be the No. 1 contender and get a UFC heavyweight title shot.