Referees, Judges Selected for Title Bouts at UFC 296

Veteran official Herb Dean will be the third man in the cage when Leon Edwards and Colby Covington square off for the welterweight crown at UFC 296.

The Nevada State Athletic Commission on Tuesday approved referee and judging assignments for the two championship bouts atop Saturday’s card at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Dean, who has officiated Edwards’ last four fights, will be paid $2,600 for his work. Dean also oversaw Covington’s last Octagon appearance, a five-round verdict over Jorge Masvidal at UFC 272.

Meanwhile, Derek Cleary, Sal D’Amato and Chris Lee will serve as cageside judges for the UFC 296 headliner. They will earn $2,300 apiece. Lee submitted a 48-46 tally for Edwards in the Englishman’s majority decision triumph against Kamaru Usman at UFC 286 this past March.

Marc Goddard will referee the flyweight title bout between Alexandre Pantoja and Brandon Royval in the UFC 296 co-main event. Like Dean, Goddard will be paid $2,600. Eric Colon, Junichiro Kamijo and Ron McCarthy will score the flyweight bout and be paid $2,300 each. Kamijo was one of two judges who submitted a 48-47 scorecard for Pantoja in his split-decision triumph over Brandon Moreno at UFC 290 this past July.

The UFC 296 main card will air on pay-per-view via ESPN+ beginning at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT. Early prelims stream on ESPN+ at 6 p.m. ET/3 p.m. PT before shifting to ESPN2 and ESPN+ at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT.