Bone Popping Stoppage Left Joe Rogan, Shaquille O’Neal & Rest of the MMA Fans Looking for Answers in UFC HW Title Bout 18 Years Ago

Chael Sonnen is a retired UFC fighter. “The People’s Champ” hails from Oregon, United States. The 6-foot tall mixed martial arts analyst shares his insight on the sport of UFC.

The “American Gangster” has a YouTube channel where he makes commentary videos giving his takes on the sport. He recently commented on a controversial match that had both Joe Rogan and Shaquille O’Neal confused.

Great refereeing by Herb dean to spot the pop

In his recent video, “The People’s Champion” decides to talk about one of the most controversial events in a UFC championship. In a game that was decided by Herb Dean’s split-second decision; leaving most of the fans confused. Chael takes us back in the time machine, about 18 years ago for UFC 048.

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Sonnen starts off by asking “You guys remember… It was a big night in our sport.”

He reveals that it was when Frank Mir faced Tim Sylvia and came out on top, “Frank Mir won the World Championship when he popped Tim Sylvia’s forearm…”

Sonnen remembers the crucial referee decision in the match saying “When Herb Dean stopped it…” and added “He was completely right and he got credit for seeing something that everybody else… Missed” including Big Shaq in the crowd, taking in the UFC action. The Basketball legend looked just as dumbfounded as MMA fans all over the world before watching the replay.

It was the 19th of June, 2004. The match started on a high note and quickly, Mir got caught in an awkward grapple by Sylvia. Herb Dean, one of the best professional MMA referees, was observing the fighters’ movements closely.

Joe Rogan stood corrected upon watching the replay

Dean got closer upon seeing the grapple and as soon as Sylvia launched into the air, The referee halted the fight. In real-time UFC commentator Joe Rogan, saw nothing saying “You know what… I don’t know what Herb Dean was seeing…?”.

But, upon examining the replay closely, Rogan screamed “Oh! Oh! I saw that…” “That looked like it popped” and corrected his earlier statement.

Frank Mir had caught Tim Sylvia with an armbar submission and as a result, Sylvia’s arm had popped. This action was keenly observed by referee Herb Dean, who declared Tim Sylvia to be the Heavyweight champion of the two.

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This is one of the instances of outstanding refereeing in the history of the sport.