When a fighter is on his back and his opponent is kicking his legs, the referee quite often will halt the action to allow the grounded fighter back to his feet so he is not taking shots when getting up?
Why do the refs do this? Surely it’s up to the grounded fighter to try and get up without help from the ref?
StevetheWeasel - "Surely it's up to the grounded fighter to try and get up without help from the ref? "
It should be.
Agreed. It’s one thing if the standing fighter wants to let the other guy up, but like in the Arnold Allen fight, it seemed like Leon Roberts (who is generally a very good ref) let the crowd get to him and allowed Allen’s opponent up well-before he should’ve.
I know it's not super entertaining to watch one guy kick a dude on the grounds legs, but its painfully obvious that the prone fighters have no sense of urgency in this position since they know that within 5-10 seconds, the refs will let them up.
Then again, I'm kind of against referee stand-ups in general. When fighters are stalled against the cage, it makes sense, but if a guy gets taken down, it's on them to get up. It's not like a wrestler gets a free double-leg if they're just getting jab-and-jogged for 45 seconds.
Sometimes you get a stalemate IIRC Henderson was in that position repeatedly in the first wanderlei fight and is slowed it down a lot
Typically the Ref will tell the standing fighter to engage or let him up. If he is kicking the grounded fighter in the legs, there should not be a stand up.