You're jumping to brain damage.
People do this for many reasons when they don't get knocked out easily. The old brain rattle when the equilibrium is off and so is the vision, but you're on your feet and can see the guy fine, then it blurs. You can feel something wrong in the inner ear, plus a broken nose, and such.
Tony knew he couldn't blow his nose, mouth open, and unable to gauge the range.
You see in every match, it just LOOKED worse in this moment,
due to the amount of beating he took to the head.
The most disturbing thing that hasn't sit well with me...
was Greg Hardy using an inhaler during a match.
It is quite literally... a steroid.