This article is part of our RotoWire Staff Picks series.
Even without a traditional title at stake, the UFC delivers with a loaded card in its annual pilgrimage to Madison Square Garden. In the main event, fan-favorite Nate Diaz will take on a scorching hot Jorge Masvidal to determine the trademarked (yes, trademarked), baddest mother****** in the fight game.
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 244 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Jorge Masvidal (-175) vs. Nate Diaz (+155) | BMF Championship | Masvidal | Masvidal | Masvidal |
Darren Till (+170) vs. Kelvin Gastelum | Middleweight | |||
Stephen Thompson (-115) vs. Vicente Luque (-105) | Welterweight | Thompson | Thompson | |
Blagoy Ivanov (-125) vs. Derrick Lewis (+105) | Heavyweight | Lewis | Lewis | |
Kevin Lee (+140) vs. Gregor Gillespie (-160) | Lightweight | |||
| UFC 244 RECORD | 3-2 | 2-3 | 2-3 | |
| 2019 RECORD | 34-19 | 31-22 | 28-25 | |
| 2019 PERCENTAGE | .642 | .585 | .528 | |
| ALL-TIME | 129-81 | 129-81 | 104-77 | |
| ALL-TIME PERCENTAGE | .614 | .614 | .575 |
| MATCHUP | WEIGHT CLASS | CHRIS OLSON | JOE SUNTZU | SHAUN TheDFSniper |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Jorge Masvidal (-175) vs. Nate Diaz (+155) | BMF Championship | Masvidal | Masvidal | |
Darren Till (+170) vs. Kelvin Gastelum | Middleweight | |||
Stephen Thompson (-115) vs. Vicente Luque (-105) | Welterweight | Thompson | Thompson | |
Blagoy Ivanov (-125) vs. Derrick Lewis (+105) | Heavyweight | Lewis | Lewis | |
Kevin Lee (+140) vs. Gregor Gillespie (-160) | Lightweight | |||
| UFC 244 RECORD | 2-3 | 2-3 | 2-3 | |
| 2019 RECORD | 29-24 | 30-23 | 31-22 | |
| 2019 PERCENTAGE | .547 | .566 | .585 | |
| ALL-TIME | 80-70 | 57-42 | 61-38 | |
| ALL-TIME PERCENTAGE | .533 | .576 | .616 |
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.
