I think one of the odd things about this whole case was the fight doc in the cage. There are times where you let the fighter decide if he can continue and there are times where you don't. A cut? Sure, if the fighter wants to risk it fine, you can always stop it later if the cut gets worse. Illegal shots like knees to the head, kicks to the face, etc, I think the doctor needs to make his own assessment of the fighter. There was a clear and recognizable difference in just Rivera's facial expression before and after the knee. Afterwards his eyes were wide open and glassed over, his mouth wasn't fully closed yet he wasn't breathing hard, even looked slightly paler (but that could come from anything to be honest). It was clear the man was not able to continue the fight and be able to defend himself properly.
To me this comes down to fight docs needing to be able to take the criticism to stop the fight to do what they are there to do, protect the fighters. To me, Bisping threw an illegal knee, Rivera was 'too much of a man' to admit he was hurt, and the doc ****ed it all up by allowing the fight to continue. I didn't care if there was no winner declared, I just knew that afterwards the fight would not be the same, and it wasn't.