This article is part of our UFC Picks series.
UFC fans will be graced with a rare afternoon pay-per-view Saturday, where Khabib Nurmagomedov will look to make his first title defense in Abu Dhabi against a red-hot Dustin Poirier.
As a reminder, these are purely picks. If you're looking for a fantasy-specific breakdown of these fights on DraftKings, click here for Jon Litterine's 242 Preview or tune into Fight IQ live Friday at 8:00 p.m. EST on the RotoWire Youtube Channel.
| MATCHUP | WEIGHT CLASS | JON | JAKE | RICHARD |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Khabib Nurmagomedov (-450) vs. Dustin Poirier (+360) | Lightweight Championship | Khabib | Khabib | Khabib |
Edson Barboza (-150) vs. Paul Felder (+130) | Lightweight | |||
Islam Makhachev (-320) vs. Davi Ramos (+260) | Lightweight | Makhachev | Makhachev | Makhachev |
Curtis Blaydes (-485) vs. Shamil Abdurakhimov (+385) | Heavyweight | Blaydes | Blaydes | Blaydes |
Diego Ferreira (+210) vs. Mairbek Taisumov (-250) | Lightweight | Ferreira | Ferreira | |
| UFC 242 RECORD | 4-1 | 4-1 | 3-2 | |
| 2019 RECORD | 29-14 | 28-15 | 23-20 | |
| 2019 PERCENTAGE | .674 | .651 | .535 | |
| ALL-TIME | 124-76 | 126-74 | 99-72 | |
| ALL-TIME PERCENTAGE | .620 | .630 | .579 |
| MATCHUP | WEIGHT CLASS | CHRIS OLSON | JOE SUNTZU | SHAUN TheDFSniper |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Khabib Nurmagomedov (-450) vs. Dustin Poirier (+360) | Lightweight Championship | Khabib | Khabib | Khabib |
Edson Barboza (-150) vs. Paul Felder (+130) | Lightweight | Felder |
|
|
Islam Makhachev (-320) vs. Davi Ramos (+260) | Lightweight | Makhachev | Makhachev | Makhachev |
Curtis Blaydes (-485) vs. Shamil Abdurakhimov (+385) | Heavyweight | Blaydes | Blaydes | Blaydes |
Diego Ferreira (+210) vs. Mairbek Taisumov (-250) | Lightweight |
|
|
|
| UFC 242 RECORD | 4-1 | 3-2 | 3-2 | |
| 2019 RECORD | 25-18 | 28-15 | 27-16 | |
| 2019 PERCENTAGE | .581 | .651 | .628 | |
| ALL-TIME | 76-64 | 55-34 | 57-32 | |
| ALL-TIME PERCENTAGE | .543 | .618 | .640 |
THE TEAM
Jon Litterine: RotoWire lead MMA beat writer and scribe for our weekly DrafKings preview. Lead analyst on the RotoWire MMA Podcast. Follow him on Twitter at @JonLitterine.
Jake Letarski: RotoWire.com Operations Manager, plus MMA and NCAA Hoops Senior Editor. Host of the RotoWire MMA Podcast and guest on the RotoWire Fantasy Football Podcast. Follow him on Twitter at @RotoJake.
Richard Mann: Richard is a stats-based analyst that has appeared on ESPN MMA via Fightmetric. For RotoWire, he contributes as a fight recap writer and handles event recaps in our Fight Stat Wrap column. Follow him on Twitter at @RichardAMann.
Chris Olson: Contributor at RotoWire to "Fight IQ, presented by RotoWire," as well as DFS Baseball, and MMA fight recaps. Follow him on Twitter at @RealChrisOlson.
Joe "SunTszu": Known more commonly by his Twitter handle @SunTszu, Joe is a Hedge Fund Executive by day and high-volume DFS player by night. He is a 2x "Bracket Challenge" & "Gotham qualifier, who is currently ranked 4th in DFS MMA. You can also find him as one of the original contributors of "Fight IQ, presented by RotoWire," a DFS-centric video breakdown. He is also a co-creator of the "Creating Alpha in DFS" podcast.
@theDFSniper: @theDFSniper is the host and lead instigator of "Fight IQ, presented by RotoWire," a DFS-centric video breakdown. He also appears on the LoudMouth MMA podcast and contributes soccer content to DFS Army.
