Michael Chandler took part in what will be a front-runner for the 2021 fight of the year at UFC 268. However, as a participant in a lightweight division classic with a wrecking machine like Justin Gaethje, the former Bellator champion endured some serious damage to his face as the pair put on a show for fight fans in Madison Square Garden.
Chandler (22-7) versus Gaethje (23-3) was pure mayhem. Both men showed an absurd amount of toughness and durability as they went toe-to-toe for 15 minutes this past Saturday. The pair landed 237 strikes combined, with the “Highlight” scoring the most crushing blows as he landed 116 significant strikers to “Iron’s” 103.
Watch Michael Chandler get stitches in his face following his UFC 268 loss to Justin Gaethje
Gaethje is known for being able to deliver devastating kicks to his opponent’s legs and continued that trend against Chandler by landing 26 of his 28 attempts. However, he still made time to pummel his foe’s face and hit him with 83 significant strikes to the head. It is no surprise then that after the fight, Chandler, 35, received 22 stitches in his face at a New York City hospital. You can view footage of that surgical work in the “>TMZ Sports exclusive video above.
Although the multi-time Bellator lightweight champion endured the majority of the damage, he still dealt out a fair amount of his own. Scoring 28 significant body strikes to Gaethje’s seven. Both men stunned the other several times during the fight, and neither took part in post-fight interviews because the duo was sent to a local hospital immediately after the bout.
Many fans and media viewed the matchup as a title eliminator. With the victor likely landing in a championship fight with the winner of the UFC 269 main event 155-pound title fight between Charles Oliveira and Dustin Poirier. However, UFC boss Dana White seemed reluctant to make that booking official in his post-fight press conference. Giving hope to fast-rising lightweight Isam Makhachev that he could instead be in line for a title bout after winning nine straight in the Octagon.
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You can watch White talk about that, and other results from the event in the video above.
Who do you think the UFC 269 winner should face, Gaethje or Makhachev?
