Downed opponent
combatant on the ground (i.e. non-standing)
A downed opponent (also called a grounded opponent) is a combatant that is on the ground, as compared to a combatant that is in a standing position. This commonly implies that the downed combatant is lying on the ground, but can technically refer to any position in which anything except the soles of the combatants feet are touching the ground. In many combat sports featuring striking, such as boxing or taekwondo, it is illegal to strike a downed opponent. The referee will promptly bring the downed opponent to his or her feet to resume the bout standing. The only combat sport which allows strikes when the opponent is down is mixed martial arts. The majority of MMA organizations follow the common rule of prohibiting knee strikes and kicks to the head of a grounded opponent, but fighters are allowed to strike their opponent's body. Hand and elbow strikes to the head are considered legal.
There are many MMA organizations that still follow the roots of MMA which is no-holds-barred fighting. Brazil, Japan and Russia are the three main countries that allow soccer kicks to the face/head when the opponent is down as well as knees to the head of a downed opponent.
Pride Fighting Championship was the first large organization which adopted soccer kicks, knees and stomps to the face/head of downed opponent.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Downed opponent” is combatant on the ground (i.e. non-standing). The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Downed, opponent and combatant, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “combatant on the ground (i.e. non-standing)” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 22, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5303094. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “Downed opponent” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.