5 bold predictions for UFC 268

#2. Justin Gaethje will finish Michael Chandler inside two rounds at UFC 268

Justin Gaethje vs. Michael Chandler is being dubbed the 'people's main event' for UFC 268. Both fighters are known for their entertaining fighting styles. When the fight was announced, many people were calling for the lightweight banger to be a five-round contest.

A closer look at the fight will tell you that the chance of this scrap going past three rounds is highly unlikely.

'The Highlight' has five wins in the UFC and all of them have come via KO/TKO. The 32-year-old has secured all of his knockout wins inside the first two rounds. The only exception is his fight against Tony Ferguson at UFC 249. 'El Cucuy's granite chin helped him survive the beatdown until the final round when the fight was stopped by the referee.

Chandler does not boast the same ability to take heavy punches as Ferguson. This was evident in his last fight against Charles Oliveira where, after dominating 'Do Bronx' in the opening round, 'Iron' got finished in the second round via TKO.

It's not like Chandler lacks power shots of his own. We saw his explosive hands in action at UFC 257 when he knocked out Dan Hooker in the first round. However, Gaethje is notorious for taking heavy damage and still moving forward. We saw that in his fights against Michael Johnson, Dustin Poirier and Eddie Alvarez.

So there is a high probability of 'The Highlight' earning a knockout win inside the first two rounds at UFC 268.

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#1. Kamaru Usman will finish Colby Covington inside three rounds

Kamaru Usman and Colby Covington delivered a classic five-round war in their first encounter in December 2019. 'The Nigerian Nightmare', who now trains with Trevor Wittman, has grown leaps and bounds since their first fight. Usman has defended his title three times since then including knockout wins against Gilbert Burns and Jorge Masvidal.

Covington has not shown the same type of activity since his loss to Usman. 'Chaos' has competed only once since UFC 245. He scored a TKO win against former champion Tyron Woodley, who was on a two-fight skid coming into the fight.

Their last fight was a stand-up affair as both fighters' wrestling abilities canceled each other out. This time around, the improvements in 'The Nigerian Nightmare's striking may prove to be too much for Covington.

So Usman has a decent chance of knocking out 'Chaos' inside three rounds.