The middleweight showdown between Yoel Romero and Paulo Costa had a sense of "blink and you'll miss it" ahead of UFC 241. The knockout may not have come, but it wasn't for lack of trying on the part of either man.

In the end, Costa took a close (and controversial) decision in a fight that will enter into many Fight of the Year lists.

A huge left hand from Costa dropped Romero roughly a minute into the first round. Moments later, it was Romeo who dropped Costa with his own heavy shot. Rather than slow down after each man had felt the other's power, they continued to wind up with heavy strikes. Costa landed a series of heavy punches only to eat a flying knee and follow up punch from Romero.

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Unfortunately, Romero collapsed to the canvas after a knee from Costa landed to the groin, drawing a halt to the wild first-round action.

After taking a few moments to recover, Romeo was able to continue. Despite the slight delay to the violence, the men went right back to winging shots with ill intent for the rest of the opening frame.

Costa switched to a heavy body attack in the second round, never taking his foot off the gas while Romero was forced to go backward trying to land his potentially fight-ending shots. When the second round ended, it was officially the longest fight of Costa's still-young career. As he took several deep breaths and was taken down by Romero in the final seconds of the round, his lack of fighting into the deep waters was beginning to show.

Romero started off the final round with some clean power punches to the face of Costa. Despite clear fatigue, Costa continued throwing big punches as well as body kicks. Romero knocked Costa's head back, Costa fired to the body as the two continued to blast each other with shots that would fell most of the 185-pound division.

With two minutes left in the third, it appeared the two came to an agreement to let it all go. Romero poured it on as the crowd roared their approval after three rounds of violence.

After the fight went the distance, the judges awarded the fight to Costa by scores of 29-28 across the board, a decision met with a decidedly mixed reaction from the fans in attendance.

Costa entered the fight ranked No. 7 in the middleweight division while Romero sat at No. 2. While Costa may vault up a few spots, it will be hard to move Romero down after his performance.

"I trained like a crazy man," Costa said following his victory. "For God, I am here today fighting against this beast. Yoel Romero is a real beast. I expected a lot. Thank you. Thank you very much. Look, I just came in here to make one thing, take my belt. ... I will be waiting. After this fight, I want my chance to prove I am the champion."

UFC president Dana White and his matchmakers liked the bout so much that they gave both fighters an extra $50,000 for the Fight of the Night. It's arguably a contender for Fight of the Year after both men put themselves through hell in pursuit of victory on Saturday night.