American fighters Justin Gaethje and Michael Chandler warred violently in an epic fight of the year

• Justin Gaethje and Michael Chandler's lightweight fight Saturday lived up to the UFC hype.
• Both fighters left Madison Square Garden for the hospital and posed for a selfie.

American fighters Justin Gaethje and Michael Chandler warred violently Saturday in a UFC fight so epic it could be a contender for Fight of the Year honors.

It all went down during the main card of the UFC 268 show held in front of a raucous crowd at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

Considering the unique brand of striking chaos that both fighters have exhibited in their mixed martial arts careers to date, this match was never going to disappoint.

Chandler, who knocked out Dan Hooker in his UFC debut earlier this year, threw 100 strikes in the opening round alone.

Gaethje, in retaliation, out-landed Chandler by 51 to 24 shots in the second, and 41 to 30 in the third.

Gaethje landed considerable damage as he battered Chandler's legs with kicks, opened cuts on his face, and dropped him with an uppercut.

Watch it here:

Both showed off what truly separates ultimate fighters from regular people, and even athletes in other sports. There is just an extraordinary amount of resilience required to gut out fights like this.

But only one man could have his hand raised - and that man was Gaethje, who advanced his pro MMA record to 23 wins (19 knockouts, one submission, and three decisions) against three losses.

There was so much respect between the fighters that, when they went to hospital for their post-event medical checks and treatment, they stopped to pose for a selfie with each other.

Elsewhere on the card, UFC debutant Alex Pereira iced Andreas Michailidis with a flying knee, Ian Garry messed up Jordan Williams and then channeled Conor McGregor, and Marlon Vera front kicked Frankie Edgar to hell.

Late on the night, Rose Namajunas retained her UFC women's strawweight championship with a closely-fought split decision win over old rival and former titleholder Zhang Weili.

And, in the final bout of the evening, Kamaru Usman extended his extraordinary run at the top of the UFC welterweight division with another big win over 170-pound nemesis Colby Covington.