UFC 292 takes place Saturday night in Boston, Mass. and features a bantamweight title headliner between current champion Aljamain Sterling and Sean O'Malley. There's another title fight on the cards as Weili Zhang defends her women's strawweight title against Amanda Lemos. Undefeated rising welterweight Ian Garry is also in action while Marlon Vera collides with Pedro Munhoz in a bantamweight tilt.

With what should be an great night of fights, here are three bold predictions for the UFC 292 pay-per-view event.

1. Sean O'Malley will knock Aljamain Sterling out

Against Sterling, O'Malley's only realistic paths to victory are a knockout or a decision win. That said, he is a big underdog going into the fight and a big reason for that is the wrestling and grappling threat of Sterling. Sterling may not have the best takedown success rate, but he's relentless with his takedown attempts. Once he gets you down — like he always says — it's a wrap. “Funk Master” will either take your back and drop heavy ground and pound on you or he'll take your back and put you to sleep — just ask Cory Sandhagen. That's not to say Sterling is a bad striker. He has a funky style of volume striking that has improved over the years. However, it's more than likely he will focus on a wrestling-heavy game on Saturday much like he did against Sandhagen given the striking acumen of O'Malley.

We've never truly seen O'Malley tested on the ground by a predominant grappler. He did well against Petr Yan for the most part, but the latter is more of a striker. That is why the general belief is that Sterling will have his way with “Sugar” once he lands that first takedown. While that may very well be the case, this bold prediction expects O'Malley to knock Sterling out. If O'Malley can defend the first few takedown attempts and keep the fight standing, he has more than a good chance of being able to accurately land a precision strike on Sterling — whether it's with his right hand or a head kick. Perhaps he gets taken down and after a few rounds, Sterling decides to stand with him which opens up a chance for O'Malley. The best opportunity? Landing on Sterling just as he's attempting to secure a takedown. Perhaps O'Malley even makes use his of knees to take a page out of Marlon Moraes' book — the last fighter to knock Sterling out cold back in 2017 which happened to be during a takedown attempt from the latter. There's always the possibility of a decision win, but a knockout seems to be O'Malley's best bet for success this weekend.

2. Ian Garry will suffer his first defeat at UFC 292

It's called a bold prediction for a reason. While Neil Magny is stepping in on short notice against the red-hot Ian Garry — who is a massive betting favorite — he still remains a crafty and durable veteran. Not to mention, he's more than capable of upsetting the odds against strikers. One just needs to look at his 2021 win over Geoff Neal where he used his range to volume strike and clinch the knockout artist on his way to a unanimous decision victory.

While this prediction isn't to say that Garry will get knocked out or submitted — though a submission is possible — it's more than likely Magny makes this a dirty fight in the same vein that he did against Neal. He'll make use of the jab, teep kicks, clinch up Garry against the fence whenever he gets close and just make things extremely uncomfortable for the Irishman. Of course, that is provided he doesn't get caught by Garry in the process.

3. There'll be a finish in the Marlon Vera vs. Pedro Munhoz fight

There's an interesting statistic regarding the bantamweight fight between Marlon Vera and Pedro Munhoz. Both fighters have a combined 15 losses in their professional careers — but all of those defeats have come by decision. Neither man has been finished whether by knockout, submission or even a doctor stoppage. It only speaks to the durability — as well as granite chins — the pair possess. But what happens when you book two such fighters in a battle? Chaos.

Both men like to strike and it's very likely we'll end up seeing a brawl and maybe even a Fight of the Year candidate. But that's not all. This fight could end up being the first time either man gets finished in their career. Vera is the younger man at 30 and the slight betting favorite while Munhoz is 36 and has absorbed quite a bit of damage during his UFC stint. All signs point to Munhoz being the one to get finished, but he's also more than capable of being the one to finish Vera as well. Whoever it may be, it'll certainly be a rare sight.