10 UFC Fights Ended By IIlegal Strikes
When the UFC began all the way back in 1993 the events were billed as having “no rules” and “no holds barred,” though that wasn’t entirely true.
Even back in those formative days of the sport there were still a few stipulations such as no biting, eye-gouging or groin strikes – though the latter was removed after the first event, resulting in an infamous fight at UFC 4 in which Keith Hackney repeatedly pummeled Joe Son’s most vulnerable area with a vicious onslaught of punches.
As the sport matured, more rules were introduced to help ensure the fighter’s safety, but over the years there have been numerous instances where, either intentionally or intentionally, those laws have been broken inside the Octagon, sometimes to devastating effect.
In this article we’ll look at 10 classic examples where the use of illegal strikes in the UFC has left the fighter on the receiving end of the blows so badly hurt that they were unable to continue, and discover the punishment, or lack thereof, that was dished out afterwards.
Wes Sims vs Frank Mir I:
Sims is well known for being a bit of a crazy character, and that was evident for all to see during his infamous fight with Mir at UFC 43 in 2003.
Mir had taken Sims down almost immediately in the fight and was in complete control on the mat until he attempted an armbar and Sims escaped by slamming him on his head.
The tide had suddenly turned in Sims favor, but then in a moment of madness, the 6′ 9” heavyweight illegally grabbed the cage with both hands and then proceeded to land repeated illegal foot stomps to the head of his downed opponent until the ref rushed in to stop him.
Sims was disqualified, but his real punishment would come the following year at UFC 46 in a rematch with Mir, which saw him finished by a combination of knees and punches to the head.
However, despite being tagged as a dirty fighter, Sims continues to remain unapologetic about his DQ in their first encounter.
“I went to every biker bar between Vegas and [Ohio], and everyone always told me that the last man who is standing up, he’s the winner,” Sims told MMAjunkie Radio years later. 
Alessio Sakara vs. Ron Faircloth:
Fighters generally have a higher pain threshold than the average person, but even the toughest in the sport can find themselves completely incapacitated by a single kick to the family jewels.
No one knows that better than Italian fighter Alessio Sakara, who had the misfortunate to suffer one of the most brutal groin strikes ever seen in the Octagon in his promotional debut against another newcomer Ron Faircloth at UFC 55 in 2005.
Just moments into the second round, Faircloth unleashed an inside leg kick that missed the mark and planted itself squarely in the midst of Sakara’s unmentionables.
Sakara crumpled to the canvas and was in so much pain from the blow that he started retching. After several minutes of this it became clear that Sakara was still in too much distress to continue and so the fight was declared a no contest.
The Italian believed the strike had been unintentional and didn’t hold a grudge afterwards, instead becoming friends with Faircloth, who never fought in the UFC again. 
Andrei Arlovski vs. Marcio Cruz:
Coming off back-to-back title losses to Tim Sylvia earlier in 2006, Andrei Arlovski looked to get back on track against Marcio Cruz at UFC 66, but the manner in which he did was highly controversial.
Midway through the opening round, Cruz took Arlovski down and went for a leg lock. While attempting to escape, the Belarusian fighter aimed an illegal kick to the head of his grounded opponent, which resulted in referee Herb Dean momentarily stopping the fight to warn him.
A few seconds later the fight was restarted from the same position and Arlovski stunned Cruz with a punch to the head and then got on top.
While breaking the rules by holding onto the cage with one hand, Arlovski then began raining down a series of illegal punches and hammerfists to the back of ‘Pe De Pano’s’ head with the other.
Dean twice warned him not to hit the back of the head, but despite Arlovski landing several more to the same location, the ref opted to awarded Arlovski the TKO victory as Cruz lay motionless on the mat.
The decision was never overturned and the loss brought an end to Cruz’s three-fight stint in the UFC. 
Jon Jones vs. Matt Hamill:
One of the most innocuous illegal strikes in the history of the UFC cost Jon Jones dearly in 2009, handing him his only loss.
After easily finding success his first three fights in the UFC, Jones was brimming with confidence at the TUF 10 Finale. He slammed Hamill to the mat in the opening round, moved into full mount and began raining down a relentless series of punches and elbow strikes.
It looked like the fight was all but over, but for some reason referee Steve Mazzagatti allowed the fight to continue, with Jones looking up at him in disbelief a couple of times before landing a couple of elbows in an illegal downward 12-6 direction.
The fact that this particular angle of elbow strike is illegal has often been criticized as a laughably flawed rule from an earlier era when naive officials feared the blow could be “life-threatening.”
Nevertheless, Jones would be harshly punished for using it as his opponent told the referee he was unable to continue (later turning out to be more to do with having dislocated his shoulder earlier in the fight), which resulted in Hamill being declared the winner via disqualification.
The result was never overturned and to this day remains the only blemish on Jones’ 22-1 record. 
Kevin Burns vs. Anthony Johnson:
Johnson and Burns were in the latter stages of a three round battle at UFC Fight Night 14 in 2008 when an illegal strike brought the bout to a sudden, unjust conclusion.
During the fight, Burns was warned repeatedly by referee Steve Mazzagatti after appearing to eye-poke Johnson unintentionally several times.
In the final round, Burns landed another eye-poke, this time burying his finger deep into ‘Rumble’s’ right eye, causing the fighter to yell in pain as he fell to the mat clutching his face.
With Johnson’s eye swollen shut, ‘Rumble’ was unable to continue. But rather than declaring a no-contest, Mazzagatti handed Burns an undeserved TKO victory.
An apologetic Burns explained in his post-fight interview with Joe Rogan that the pokes were accidental, caused by being unable to make a fist with his left hand due to having broken it three times in the past.
Johnson appealed the fight’s outcome, but the Nevada State Athletic Commission turned him down.
After ‘Rumble’ underwent laser surgery to repair the damage, the two headed into an immediate rematch at the TUF 8 Finale, with ‘Rumble’ getting his revenge via a brutal third-round head kick knockout.
Matt Riddle vs. Greg Soto:
Already two rounds down on the scorecards in his short-notice promotional debut at UFC 111 in 2010, Soto knew he needed to do something big to defeat Riddle, but what he did would lead to him being disqualified.
The final five minutes had begun in much the same way as the previous ten, with Riddle able to take Soto down and control him on the mat.
Soto then attempted a triangle choke from his back, and when Riddle jerked free from it, Soto saw his opportunity and blasted him with an upkick straight to the jaw, sending his opponent reeling backwards.
Soto claimed afterwards that he thought Riddle was in a squatted position at the time, but it turned out he had a knee on the ground, making it an illegal blow.
Riddle suffered a concussion from the upkick, and when the referee spoke to him he had no recollection of what had just happened, leading to the DQ ruling.
Maximo Blanco vs. Alex Corassani:
Just 25 seconds into Corassani and Blanco’s match at the TUF 18 Finale in 2013, the bout was brought to an abrupt halt when Blanco landed an illegal knee flush to the face of his grounded opponent.
Corassani wasn’t knocked out by the blow, but he was dazed enough that he was heard asking the referee, “what happened?” as blood began pouring from his nose.
Alarmingly, seconds late Corassani told the referee, “I can’t see,” as a doctor was called in to take a look at the increasingly woozy-looking fighter.
The referee waved the fight off soon after, but in the confusion Blanco thought he’d won and celebrated with a backflip, before finding out that in fact he’d just lost by disqualification.
Though his nose had been broken in five places, Corassani made a full recovery, but he’d go on to lose his next three fights in the UFC by strikes before retiring.
Abel Trujillo vs. Roger Bowling:
The sudden ending to a UFC On FOX 9 fight between Trujillo and Bowling in 2013 proved to be highly controversial and the subject of many discussions.
Bowling came on strong in the middle stanza and was attempting to choke out his opponent in the dying seconds of the round when Trujillo suddenly broke free and unleashed what at first glance looked like two vicious illegal knees to his still-grounded adversary’s head.
As a doctor was called in to check on Bowling, replays showed that the first knee had actually landed high on his chest, which was legal, while the second seemed to land on the head, making it illegal.
The doctor was overheard asking Bowling if he knew where he was. Apparently not, as twice Bowling simply stated, “Strikeforce,” even although it’d been a year since he’d last fought in that organization.
Bowling’s memory loss convinced the official he’d suffered a flash KO and the fight was waived off, with the ref deciding Trujillo’s illegal knee had been unintentional, and the bout was declared a no contest.
Afterwards, Bowling said Trujillo’s illegal knee had been ‘dirty’ and called for a rematch, which he’d be granted four months later. He wasn’t able to get retribution, suffering a TKO loss in what would prove to be his last fight in the UFC.
Patrick Cote vs. Alessio Sakara:
As documented earlier, Sakara came out on the receiving end of an illegal strike against Ron Faircloth, but years later he would be the one dishing out the banned blows against Patrick Cote.
Cote had came into the fight at UFC 154 in 2012 having lost his last four fights in the Octagon, and he was hell-bent on reversing his fortune in the opening minute of the bout as he teed off on Sakara with a series of strikes.
However, Sakara then retaliated with two big elbows that dropped his opponent. Cote tried in vain to initiate a takedown from his knees, but Sakara began blatantly illegally pounding on the back of his head with repeated hammerfists that slumped Cote face-first to the mat.
Referee Dan Miragliotta warned Sakara twice about the strikes, to no avail, and after consulting a replay, he deemed that Cote should be awarded the victory by disqualification.
So Cote’s losing streak ended in bizarre fashion, and he would win five of his next six fights while Sakara lost his next fight before being cut by the promotion.
Tim Means vs. Alex Oliveira:
Mass confusion over a change in rules led to an unfortunate end to a fight between Means and Oliveira at UFC 207 in December of 2016.
In the opening round of the fight, Means landed two big knees to the head while his opponent had only one knee on the mat, believing that Oliveira needed three points of contact to be considered ‘grounded.’
What he didn’t realize was that the rules had recently been changed and a single knee on the mat was now enough to consider the strike illegal.
Oliveira was left unable to continue and referee Dan Miragliotta somehow came to the conclusion that the knees hadn’t been intentional, declaring the fight a no contest.
Means then insisted that the knees had been intentional, and in frustration claimed that, “I’d rather they disqualify me than make it a no-contest bulls**t.”
Even UFC Vice President of Regulatory Affairs Mark Ratner seemed unsure of the rule change, stating on the live broadcast that Miragliotta was wrong and that the strikes had been legal – an opinion backed up by Octagon commentator Joe Rogan.
Veteran official John McCarthy knew that wasn’t true, however, and could be visibly seen shaking his head in disbelief in the background.
Oliveira’s team have since appealed Miragliotta’s decision, believing he should have won by disqualification. A rematch is planned for UFC Fight Night 106 from Brazil later this month.
