ONE 166 is a historic combat sports event, as ONE Championship has just held its very first fight card in Qatar. Although there were some amazing bouts on the card, the fight between Canadian heavyweight fighter Arjan Bhullar and Iranian giant Amir Aliakbari was one of the most talked about one. The main reason for this was the red card that Herb Dean had to pull out during the contest.
While the Indian-origin fighter doesn’t have a track record of putting up the most exciting fights in the world, the ONE 166 bout against Amir Aliakbari was a particularly dull one. During the contest, Bhullar had a very defensive approach and it did not go down well with the veteran referee Herb Dean. He cautioned the 37-year-old twice, with yellow cards, to pick up the pace.
Herb Dean gives Arjan Bhullar a red card resulting in disqualification due to inactivity at #ONE166.
— MMA Orbit (@mma_orbit) March 1, 2024
Bhullar was given two yellow card warnings prior to this for not engaging.#ONE166
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However, Arjan did not seem particularly interested in engaging in a firefight with Aliakbari. At the 0:57 mark of the third round, when Amir Aliakbari was pushing the pace and coming at Bhullar with some strikes, the latter seemed uninterested in engaging and started to backpaddle. At that point, Herb Dean had enough and showed Bhullar the red card.
The meaning behind the red card shown to Arjan Bhullar at ONE 166: Qatar
Many fans will wonder why Herb Dean showed Arjan Bhullar the red card. The sport of soccer has a card system where the referee uses them based on the severity of the offense from the player. However, MMA has also had the custom of using cards for quite some time. It started in PRIDE, the now-defunct Japanese MMA promotion.
As PRIDE was not bound by the unified MMA rules, they had the luxury of implementing their own rules. There, the card system was used as a caution, and it also resulted in a 10% deduction in the fight purse. While ONE Championship has adapted it, the deduction in the fight purse is not part of it. In the Asia-based MMA promotion, red is used to disqualify fighters for either illegal strikes or a lack of offensive actions.
Previously, in 2021, former UFC lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez saw a red card for illegal strikes on Iuri Lapicus at ONE on TNT 1. While the yellow card is a way to caution the fighter, a red card means a straight disqualification for the fighter. In Bhullar’s case, the red card was for a lack of offensive actions as opposed to illegal strikes.