Hohaia "deserved" the first punch for elbowing Ben Flower in the face. The second punch was OTT, but a lifetime ban! IMHO a season ban would have been more than adequate.
Yes sure he arguably deserved the first incidence and as I termed it the "one of" retaliatory strike which is understandable in the heat of battle and a common occurrence that any sensible ref will look the other way for unless the player is downed with the blow.
There is a very real danger of brain damage when inflicting a head blow when the head is restrained, in other words when someone is down as all the exerted effort bounces the brain within the skull.
There is no dissipation of the shock, let alone the obvious cowardice displayed during such an action and that is why I think it needs to be taken very seriously.
This comes from an ex boxing and rugby playing perspective albeit at amateur level and quite a long time ago.
Ali and Schuey are examples of this sort of action although Ali's would probably not have been a restrained head , just pure power from his opponents.
It is thought that Schuey is very slowly coming back with incremental improvements as reported by his teenage son to a French reporter.
The latest thinking on the inflicted injury is that the helmet mounted GoPro was the point of contact and skull penetration.