UFC Picks: UFC 222

Cris Cyborg being a unanimous selection is no shocker, but there's another fighter we're backing that may surprise you.

Updated on March 1, 2018 12:38PM EST

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Updated on March 1, 2018 12:38PM EST

UFC Picks

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UFC 222 was originally supposed to decide the men's 145-pound championship between Frankie Edgar and Max Holloway, but it fell through yet again, this time due to a Holloway injury. Rather than wait it out, Edgar decided to take a big risk and accept a tough matchup against top contender and submission artist Brian Ortega. On the women's side, Cris Cyborg will attempt to defend her title against Invicta FC bantamweight champion Yana Kunitskaya. As expected, the odds here are overwhelmingly in favor of Cyborg, similar to what you'd see from Demetrious Johnson or a prime Ronda Rousey.

If you're looking for a fantasy-specific breakdown of these fights on DraftKings, click here for Jon Litterine's UFC 222 preview.

MATCHUP	WEIGHT CLASS	JON	EVAN	JAKE
Cris Cyborg (-1700) vs. Yana Kunitskaya (+1000)	Women's Featherweight Championship	Cyborg	Cyborg	Cyborg
Brian Ortega (+150) vs. Frankie Edgar (-170)	Featherweight	~~Edgar~~	~~Edgar~~	~~Edgar~~
Andre Soukhamthath (-150) vs. Sean O'Malley (+130)	Welterweight	O'Malley	~~Soukhamthath~~	~~Soukhamthath~~
Andrei Arlovski (+160) vs. Stefan Struve (-185)	Heavyweight	~~Struve~~	~~Struve~~	~~Struve~~
Cat Zingano (+130) vs. Ketlen Vieira (-160)	Women's Bantamweight	~~Zingano~~	~~Zingano~~	Vieira
RECORD		2-3	1-4	2-3
OVERALL (since UFC 200)		67-44	61-50	68-43
PERCENTAGE		.604	.550	.613

MATCHUP	WEIGHT CLASS	RICHARD	CHRIS
Cris Cyborg (-1700) vs. Yana Kunitskaya (+1000)	Women's Featherweight Championship	Cyborg	Cyborg
Brian Ortega (+150) vs. Frankie Edgar (-170)	Featherweight	~~Edgar~~	~~Edgar~~
Andre Soukhamthath (-150) vs. Sean O'Malley (+130)	Welterweight	~~Soukhamthath~~	O'Malley
Andrei Arlovski (+160) vs. Stefan Struve (-185)	Heavyweight	~~Struve~~	Arlovski
Cat Zingano (+130) vs. Ketlen Vieira (-160)	Women's Bantamweight	~~Zingano~~	~~Zingano~~
RECORD		1-4	3-2
OVERALL (since UFC 200)		47-35	28-23
PERCENTAGE		.573	.549

THE PLAYERS

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.
Evan Dahl: Pens our bi-weekly MMA Barometer column. Follow him on Twitter at @RealEvanDahl.
Jake Letarski: MMA and NCAA Hoops Senior Editor. Sirius XM contributor. Host of the RotoWire MMA Podcast, RotoWire Fantasy Football Podcast and RotoWire DFS Podcast. Follow him on Twitter at @JakeSki52.
Richard Mann: Richard is a stats-based analyst that has appeared on ESPN MMA via Fightmetric. He handles event recaps in our Fight Stat Wrap column, and maintains his own, data-driven MMA blog at StrikescoreMMA.com. Follow him on Twitter at @RichardAMann.
Chris Olson: Contributor at RotoWire for DFS Baseball, as well as MMA fight recaps. Follow him on Twitter at @RealChrisOlson.

Disagree with these picks? Let your opinion be heard in the comments!

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Evan Dahl

Author @RealEvanDahl

Evan Dahl is a law student who has been a die-hard MMA fan for over a decade. Outside of MMA, he roots for the Broncos, Brewers and Bucks.

Jake Letarski

Author @RotoJake

RotoWire Editor for College Basketball and MMA. Frequent podcaster, plus radio and video guest. Follow Jake on Twitter at @RotoJake.

Jon Litterine

Author @JonLitterine

Jon Litterine is RotoWire's lead MMA Writer and MMA Editor. He has covered numerous MMA events live. He's also RW's NHL Prospect Analyst. Jon has been writing for RotoWire since 2005. He is a graduate of U Mass-Lowell.

Richard Mann

Author @RichardAMann

Richard is a statistical MMA analyst who regularly appears on ESPN MMA and InterMatWrestle.

Christopher Olson

Author @Theonliest1

Christopher Olson writes DFS articles and blogs for a variety of sports including MLB, NFL and MMA. Follow him on Twitter @RealChrisOlson