Jeremy Stephens is standing by his actions.

The hard-hitting featherweight landed some potentially illegal blows en route to a brutal knockout of Josh Emmett at Saturday's UFC on FOX 28, but claimed during the postfight show that referee Dan Miragliotta's prefight breakdown of the unified rules - adopted by the Florida State Boxing Commission - led him to believe he could knee a grounded Emmett in the head.

Stephens dropped Emmett with a left hook and ultimately put him out with elbows - both legal - but appeared to graze a kneeling Emmett's head with an illicit knee in between. Such strikes to a kneeling opponent, with or without three points of contact, are normally forbidden - even if contact is minimal - but Stephens maintained he'd been told otherwise.

"The referee, Dan Miragliotta, came in the back, he said, 'This is the new unified rules, that if two hands are down, you can lift one hand up (and be able) to knee. That’s okay.' So if he’s on his knees and one hand is up, it’s okay to throw a knee," Stephens said, per MMA Fighting's Shaun Al-Shatti. "I’m not a dirty fighter. I never have been, my whole life. I saw an opportunity, I was looking for it.

"I saw exactly what he was going to do. I knew that he was rocked, he had two hands (on the ground), he lifted his hand up and I saw the moment and that’s when I threw the knee. I don’t think the knee even landed, it’s not what hurt him. There was a lot more damage followed up after that. He was even rocked before that. But he did lift his hands and I waited for that hand, and I tried to take advantage of that opportunity. It didn’t land, I missed, but those are the rules in this specific state. I’m not a dirty fighter."

Stephens also hit a rocked Emmett with several elbows believed to have landed on the back of his head during the fight-ending sequence, but the former claimed that if he did hit Emmett there, it was because his foe was turning into the blows as he was going for the finish.

"Guys, look, I’m going for the finish here. I’m looking to elbow, elbow. If they turn their head, the ref will tell you it’s okay because he’s turning his head, so make the adjustment. In that moment, I’m elbowing, elbowing, looking for it. He looked under and I nailed (him with) a couple.

"When I fought (Doo Ho) Choi, I elbowed the referee in the back of the head, he jumped in front. I’m not a dirty fighter. I am a killer, I train to finish, I’m going for it, I’m landing big shots there. I don’t mean to hit people in the back of the head, but if they turn, it’s not my problem."

Emmett aims to appeal the outcome to the event's sanctioning body, but even if the Florida commission opts to hear him out, he'll be facing an uphill battle in getting the result overturned, as the FSBC doesn't use instant replay.