Lackeos wrote:jamesmcdonnell wrote:
Nothing in the rules says a fighter cannot take a knee at any stage, they will most likely lose the round 10-8 and also risk the fight being stopped as a fighter voluntarily taking a knee is a sign of distress. However it is not a foul or grounds for a DQ.
3.38 The following acts shall not be permitted during a Contest:-
(a) hitting below the belt:
(b) using the “pivot blow”:
(c) hitting on the back of the head or neck:
(d) kidney punching;
(e) hitting with the open glove, the inside, or the butt or the back of the hand, or with the wrist or elbow;
(f) holding, butting, or careless use of the head, shouldering, wrestling or roughing:
(g) not trying;
(h) persistently ducking below the waistline;
(i) intentional falling without receiving a blow;
(j) failing to break when so ordered, or striking or attempting to strike an opponent on the break;
(k) deliberately striking a opponent when he is dropping to the floor or when he is down;
(l) hitting an opponent after the termination of a round;
(m) any other conduct which a Referee may deem foul;
Anything on the order of refusing to fight, running out of the ring, going down without being hit (including taking a knee), outright running from the opponent, etc. can potentially result in you immediately losing the fight. The only reason that some fighters haven't been dq'ed for taking a knee is that time since the last punch connected is subjective and not measured in exact seconds, and even trained referees don't always enforce the rules to perfection.
The Current Scene had an entire thread about the topic of taking knees about a year ago. We got to the bottom of the motherf*cker.