My sherdog shookology experteez says Ilia stole and mocked Max's gimmick there, which created an Ilia-controlled frame. Had Max accepted it, he would've put himself into context of submission, he would've been playing by Ilia's rules. Not very bad ass to be controlled by another man. Especially if you weigh the outcomes:
Max gets clipped - baited, ridiculed, beaten - the whole shindig is nothing but humiliating.
Max clips Ilia - certainly better than the actual outcome, but there would remain an uncertainty about the fight, it would be easy to write this off as Ilia just being dumb and getting caught, and it would also stamp a lingering dudebro expectation on Max to have him do this, frankly, stupid shit in every fight. The whole point why the pointing to the ground at the end of a fight is awesome is that Max is so much more technical and skilled than other guys that he can afford to lower himself to a dumber level and still win, taking the very last excuse away from his opponent. Doing this at the start of the fight completely goes against the awesomeness of it all. Making it stupid.
If anything, this was excellent in the moment decision making by Max.
