So would Mr. Xu have received the same negative public feedback if he had avoided the ground and pound, and won without perceived brutality?

I'm having difficulty seeing how this fight could have happened without either some form of KO/TKO, which I assume would have generated the same outrage, or degenerating into a farcical slapfest, which would have lost Xu face anyway.

Am I wrong? Or would Xu have killed a sacred cow no matter how he won? Because let's face it, it was clearly Xu's fight to lose. Xu should just come to America then, we have different sacred cows here.