Both should be given a warning or penalized for their infractions. If that is not done then how is the center referee going to maintain control of things. At some point also warnings are no longer given and instead points are awarded to your opponent or the offending fighter is disqualified if there are repeat warnings and points awarded.
During my days of competing I always wanted to compete and fight within the framework of the rules and usually did. At times there were some matches where I had a weak center referee who would let things go or let things go a little too far. In those situations I generally handled it one of two ways. I could either try and run up the score and get the match over more quickly which I would sometimes then do. The other approach was to then throw the rule book somewhat to the side also and do the same thing that my opponent was doing in hopes it would finally force the referee to step in and say something or to take better control of things. Before doing that though I would always make a comment to the referee first if the opportunity presented itself in hopes that it would alert him to the infraction and that any future infractions of the same kind would then be handled by him in an appropriate way.
Sometimes that worked also and sometimes it did not. A few times and especially at national tournaments an errant or weak center referee would be quickly replaced and it was not much of a problem in the black belt divisions. The black belt divisions would always have the most experienced center referees assigned to them and it was the under-belt divisions that suffered allot. Back in 93 I had a talk with the president of NASKA, Larry Carnahan and vice president at the time, Kenny Eubanks and trying instead to assign the more experienced refs to under-belt divisions since those younger or lower ranking competitors were the future. They must have heard me because they almost immediately starting trying to assign more experienced center refs to those divisions at national tournaments to better control and monitor things. Many of them were rated black-belt fighters who already knew and understood the rules and who wanted their own students as well as others to have a fair shake on what was happening and going on in fighting. Unfortunately you don't generally get that level of refereeing and judging at local tournaments though because its not available.
Each infraction carries a penalty. Each penalty is assessed independently from the other fighter. If both fighters incur a penalty, then they are both independently assessed. If one, or both, have accrued enough to get them DQ'ed, then the match generally ends. But it's possible a penalty does not result in a DQ.
Just because a fighter commits a penalty does not necessarily mean there was any cheating. Stepping out of bounds, for example, isn't cheating: you can get a second chance, perhaps a warning. Using an illegal technique isn't cheating. But if you do it enough (get assessed enough warnings), you can be DQ'ed.
Normally, in the situation you describe, in a sport regulated competition both fighters usually receive their first warnings. Depending on the established rules and scoring system of the competition, any further violation will result in a point deduction then disqualification. If the infraction is determined to be deliberate, or blatant, the fighter can be disqualified immediately without a warning or point deduction.
I have seen 2 people DQ from a tournament whilst in a fight against each other. Both disrespected the rules of the tournament and were both banned.
Depends on the referee plus the severeness and the nature of your rule-breaking. Some refs will ignore it because you both did it, some will pull you both up, some will throw you both out.
You break the rules expect to be DQ'd. When I was in the 15 and under division I had a guy doing some Kata in a match, like something you see in a movie so i kicked him in the head. There are no head kicks in that division. DQ for me. Had to settle for third in the tourney.
Awe man that's a folly right there better laugh all the time.
If two fighters in a ring both broke the rules at the same time...what would happen? Would they both be disqualified, would the issue be blown off for the time and match continue, or would the one who cheated first lose?
