Clean strikes definitely landed. There's an exchange at about 4:37 where he eats a left and comes away looking wobbly, causing MacDonald to immediately consider stopping it. If he's playing possum, that's an insanely stupid strategy because his reaction not only got Macdonald's attention but also caused Ankalaev to throw a high left kick. At 4:32, it looks as if another high left kick connects. When an opponent is spamming kicks like Ankalaev was, that is no time to be playing mind games.
I'm more inclined to go with Bisping's analysis as he called the fight and suggest he was out on his feet. The wild swing prior to MacDonald stepping in didn't really do anything to suggest otherwise.