Leon was blacking out and concussed after the illegal head spike. In round 4/5 he seemed for split seconds almost limp with his eyes closed.

[Leon Edwards]

In reality after the headspike Leon was badly hurt he went limp for a second so was probably knocked out and in later rounds when Belal had his back it seemed to black out for split seconds you can see him close his eyes.

Leon should talk about this in his next interviews hopefully.

Did you notice this?

 

[deadshot138]

User name checks out

 

[Portland8242]

Spikes are definitely no joke. I remember Askren on his podcast awhile back explaining when he got spiked by Robbie Lawler in his UFC debut he was had no idea where he was for a solid 5 seconds before Robbie started punching him in the face. Also worth noting he was also flash KO'd by the GnP shots after as well.

 

[wolfss]

He shouldn’t have let it happed.

 

[sdpdude9]

Spiking the opponent to the canvas onto the head or neck (pile-driving): A pile driver is considered to be any throw where you control your opponent's body placing his feet towards the sky with his head straight down and then forcibly drive your opponents head into the canvas or flooring material.

He lifted him with a standard high crotch and Leon fell on his head. Belal did not drive his head into the mat. I swear half of mma fans don’t understand the rules.

 

[Hassan Mouzine]

Spiking the opponent to the canvas onto the head or neck (pile-driving): A pile driver is considered to be any throw where you control your opponent's body placing his feet towards the sky with his head straight down and then forcibly drive your opponents head into the canvas or flooring material.

He lifted him with a standard high crotch and Leon fell on his head. Belal did not drive his head into the mat. I swear half of mma fans don’t understand the rules.

or they do, but interpret them to fit their narrative

 

[sdpdude9]

or they do, but interpret them to fit their narrative

Actually that’s probably more true.

 

[legcramp]

Naw he got dominated by Bernard deal with it

 

[DrRodentia]

But how stoked would you have been had it been Belal that got dumped on his head?

 

[Cazador Diurno]

I think its great you're trying to cope with this brother. Im here for you.

 

[Leonard Haid]

In reality after the headspike Leon was badly hurt he went limp for a second so was probably knocked out and in later rounds when Belal had his back it seemed to black out for split seconds you can see him close his eyes.

Leon should talk about this in his next interviews hopefully.

Did you notice this?

Slamming your opponent down to the mat head first is not illegal. There is nothing in the Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts that suggests it is. This is why Belal was not disqualified, nor Andrade when she did the same thing to Namajunas.

 

[Neck&Neck]

He should of wore his hard hat

 

[is a]

The fight should have been stood up and both fighters should have been reset to a standing position after that spike.

Maybe the spike was unintentionally done but it may be against the rules of the fight and whenever illegal moves and accidents happen a time out almost always occurs.

Even that low blowt hat Pereira had to take but decided to reject

 

[pamirec]

Watch it again Leon was not gonna land his head. When he was high up he looked down and chose to land on his head instead of his face.

 

[flowoftruth]

He was cognizant enough to put his hands out the next time Belal slammed him

 

[Rorschachxx]

So what you're saying is Belal slammed Leon on his head with a takedown and hurt him like he's supposed to?

 

[Rorschachxx]

The fight should have been stood up and both fighters should have been reset to a standing position after that spike.

Maybe the spike was unintentionally done but it may be against the rules of the fight and whenever illegal moves and accidents happen a time out almost always occurs.

Even that low blowt hat Pereira had to take but decided to reject

It wasn't illegal. Spikes are fully legal as long as an arch is recognizable from the time the opponent is picked up to the time he lands.

An Illegal spike would be something like a piledriver. Where its a clear vertical slam to the head. Even Aljos spike over Kattar had an arch which is why it was legal.

Belals slam was 100% legal which is why noone is disputing it/ the ref didn't do insert himself in any way.

 

[WaylonMercy5150]

It was a lot of energy from Belal but not illegal. He didn't drive his head into the mat, he lifted him and Leon's positioning was bad. If leon would have rolled with the slam he would have been on his back but he fought it--twice-- and got spiked once and put his hands up the second time. Fair play but Goddard would have called the fight.

 

[Human Bass]

It was a high crotch, Leon that fell awkwardly

 

[Rorschachxx]

Spiking the opponent to the canvas onto the head or neck (pile-driving): A pile driver is considered to be any throw where you control your opponent's body placing his feet towards the sky with his head straight down and then forcibly drive your opponents head into the canvas or flooring material.

He lifted him with a standard high crotch and Leon fell on his head. Belal did not drive his head into the mat. I swear half of mma fans don’t understand the rules.

Preach brother. An illegal spike is a controlled vertical drop on the opponents head.

If there is an arch in the slam, regardless how little, its a fully legal spike. Even if Belal fully intended to drop him on his head, its completely within the rules if the arch is recognizable (which it obv. was).

Thats why Rose vs Andrade was legal, Aljo vs Kattar recently was legal and a dozen other examples. I swear some of these fools will tell you a german suplex to head is illegal or something.