RotoWire Staff Picks: UFC 249

How many RotoWire contributors are riding with brawler Justin Gaethje at UFC 249 on Saturday? The crew is back together to make their picks for the pay-per-view portion of the card.
RotoWire Staff Picks: UFC 249
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It's fight week. Man, does it feel great to say that. While the COVID-19 pandemic threw a wrench into the proposed matchup between Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov, along with several other events, we'll be getting a stacked card Saturday to make up for it. Two titles will be on the line -- one of the interim variety -- while the UFC appears to be taking every precaution to put on a safe event, testing fighters daily.

As a reminder, the following selections are purely picks. If you're looking for a fantasy-specific breakdown of these fights on DraftKings, click here for Jon Litterine's 249 Preview or tune into Fight IQ live Friday at 8:00 p.m. EST on the RotoWire Youtube Channel. With FanDuel launching a MMA game as well, we also have added a new DFS Preview courtesy of Chris Olson.
 

MATCHUP

WEIGHT 

CLASS

JONJAKECHRIS
Tony Ferguson (-165) vs.
Justin Gaethje (+145)

Interim
Lightweight
Championship

Ferguson Ferguson Ferguson
Henry Cejudo (-240) vs.
Dominick Cruz (+200)

Bantamweight
Championship

CejudoCejudo Cejudo
Francis Ngannou (-275) vs.
Jair Rozenstruik (+235)

Heavyweight

NgannouNgannou Ngannou
Jeremy Stephens (+215) vs.
Calvin Kattar (-255)

Featherweight

KattarKattar Kattar
Greg Hardy (-175) vs.
Yorgan de Castro (+155)

Heavyweight

De CastroDe Castro De Castro
UFC 249 RECORD 3-23-23-2
2020 RECORD 14-512-78-11
2020 PERCENTAGE .737.632.421
2019 RECORD 39-1935-2332-26
2019 PERCENTAGE .672.603.552
ALL-TIME  148-86145-89 116-89
ALL-TIME PERCENTAGE .632.620.566

 

MATCHUP

WEIGHT 
CLASS

JOE

"SUNTZU"

SHAUN 
"TheDFSniper"

Tony Ferguson (-165) vs.
Justin Gaethje (+145)

Interim
Lightweight
Championship

Gaethje Gaethje
Henry Cejudo (-240) vs.
Dominick Cruz (+200)

Bantamweight
Championship

CruzCruz
Francis Ngannou (-275) vs.
Jair Rozenstruik (+235)

Heavyweight

NgannouNgannou
Jeremy Stephens (+215) vs.
Calvin Kattar (-255)

Featherweight

KattarKattar
Greg Hardy (-175) vs.
Yorgan de Castro (+155)

Heavyweight

De CastroHardy
UFC 249 RECORD 3-24-1
2020 RECORD 13-614-5
2020 PERCENTAGE .684.737
2019 RECORD 34-2434-24
2019 PERCENTAGE .586.586
ALL-TIME 74-4978-45
ALL-TIME PERCENTAGE .602.634

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.

Chris Olson: Contributor at RotoWire to "Fight IQ, presented by RotoWire," as well as DFS Baseball, our FanDuel MMA column, a MMA gambling columnist and 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.

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