A potential all-action lightweight clash with championship
implications will kick off the pay-per-view portion of the
UFC 268 card.
Justin
Gaethje and Michael
Chandler will be the opening act for Saturday’s main card at
Madison Square Garden, it was announced during “The MMA Hour” on Wednesday. It was generally expected that
Gaethje vs. Chandler would be the third bout on the pay-per-view
draw just ahead of the strawweight championship co-main event
between Rose
Namajunas and Weili Zhang
and the welterweight title headliner pitting Kamaru
Usman against Colby
Covington.
Instead, Gaethje vs. Chandler will precede Shane
Burgos vs. Billy
Quarantillo and Frankie
Edgar vs. Marlon
Vera.
Gaethje hasn’t competed since falling to Khabib
Nurmagomedov in a title bout at UFC 254 in October 2020. During
media day on Wednesday, “The Highlight” was adamant that he will
deserve another opportunity at lightweight gold if he defeats
Chandler.
“If I win Saturday and I don’t get a shot, I riot,” Gaethje said. “There’s no way I can let that happen and go away quiet.”
Chandler is also coming off a title bout, when he suffered a
second-round TKO loss to Charles
Oliveira in a matchup for the vacant strap at UFC 262 this past
May.