UFC commentator Joe Rogan intervenes as veteran referee Herb Dean fails to spot Shavkat Rakhmonov lose his gum shield in fight with knockout artist Geoff Neal
Michael Gray
Updated on April 07, 2026
Joe Rogan stepped in to help veteran referee Herb Dean at UFC 285 on Saturday night.
The UFC commentator was in the broadcast booth alongside Daniel Cormier and Jon Anik to call a card headlined by Jon Jones’ return to the octagon.
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Before Jones won the heavyweight title by beating Ciryl Gane in the main event, Shavkat Rakhmonov put his perfect 16-0 record on the line against the always-dangerous Geoff Neal.
The Kazakh fighter had finished every opponent he’d ever fought before Saturday and his opponent pushed him all the way and hurt him on several occasions throughout their fight.
Ultimately, Rakhmonov secured a very late submission win to keep his 100 per cent finish rate going and pick up the biggest victory of his MMA career.
However, the most-discussed moment of the fight happened in round one when Neal knocked his opponent's mouthpiece out and the referee failed to notice.
Rogan and his UFC commentary colleagues openly discussed the issue on air and anxiously pointed out on several occasions that Dean hadn't noticed Rakhmonov was fighting without his mouthguard.
After watching Neal land a massive punch, Rogan took off his headset and was caught on camera pointing at the gum shield on the floor and telling the referee what had happened.
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Eventually, Dean stepped in and temporarily halted the fight to allow Rakhmonov to put his gum shield back in before the welterweight duo got back to their epic scrap.
Rogan said as the action resumed: "He didn’t know. If I didn’t tell him he wouldn’t know. That’s crazy!
Cormier joked: “You’ve got two jobs now, commentator and officiating assistant.”
For his troubles, Rogan was the recipient of a new hat from Rakhamonov before he called out Colby Covington during his post-fight interview.
If ‘Chaos’ doesn’t fancy a fight, the 17-0 contender wants to go straight for a shot at the 170lb title which will be on the line when Leon Edwards and Kamaru Usman compete for the third time.
'Rocky' knocked Usman last year following a decision defeat to 'The Nigerian Nightmare' in 2015. They'll settle their rivalry at UFC 286 in London on March 18.
