Nah I agree, I loved the ragdolls from UFC 2, UFC 3's knockdowns have that 'delay' to it where you'll punch someone, they'll react to the punch, then react again and fall down because their 'knockout animation' has to play, same thing happens on FNC and it looked real bad.
Don't get me wrong, SOMETIMES the knockouts on UFC 3 seem to be better, but I personally love UFC 2's better from the gameplay footage i've seen, hell, I might change my mind after playing though.
Check out this gif for example, the knockdowns look really good in motion, hell, it reminds me of the 100% CGI trailer for the first UFC Undisputed game trailer.
https://imgur.com/Mb02DyM