Both
Litaor was a fool. He spoke about Ryu being enraged by his words, and yet the one between them to make the foolish choice was him.
As Ryu had expected, attacking outside the confines of the rules of the round was strictly prohibited and would be punished accordingly. Litaor wasn't thrown out, but he was sent backward a substantial amount, probably what amounted to about one and a half turns. That meant that unless he could do something drastic, he would always be a half step behind everyone else.
He was also likely lucky that he had learned this lesson now. There was a chance that the punishment could have been far worse the further along they went.