UFC commentator Jon Anik is open to the idea of a knockdown rule in MMA after watching the Steven Nguyen-Mohammed Yahya fight.
Nguyen took on Yahya on the prelims of UFC Abu Dhabi at featherweight. Nguyen dropped Yahya five times in the first round and got another knockdown in the second round for six total, before the doctor stopped it at the end of the second round. However, many fans wanted the fight to be stopped sooner, and Jon Anik agrees, as he believes that the fight could have been stopped early in the first round.
“I felt like the fight should’ve been stopped. Paul Felder said toward the end of Round 2, ‘This fight is not going to continue, right? Because a physician is going to get involved here.’ Bisping first called for a potential stoppage because of all the knockdowns at the two-and-a-half-minute mark of Round 1,” Anik said on Anik & Florian Podcast. “I do believe, because we’re not assessing concussive damage live in the moment. But, after a myriad of knockdowns, I’m not saying there should be a knockdown rule in mixed martial arts. But it does exist for a reason. After six or even of these f*****g things we can stop the fight.”
In total, Yahya absorbed 108 strikes and was knocked down six times, which Jon Anik believes shouldn’t have happened.