Five Ounces of Pain: Dean made the right call

By Sam Caplan

For whatever reason, controversy seems to follow referee Herb Dean.

Dean, himself a fighter, has a tendency to be overprotective of combatants and call a fight too early, as he did during the second installment of the Tito Ortiz vs. Ken Shamrock trilogy.

However, Dean's decision to stop Saturday's EliteXC main event between Frank Shamrock and Renzo Gracie was the right call. Whether you agree if knees to the head from a downed position should be legal, rules are rules, and Dean's job, by definition, is to enforce them.

But if Dean isn't to blame, who should fans hold responsible for an unsatisfying ending to a main event that had been heavily promoted by Showtime?

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