This article is part of our UFC Picks series.
Almost one year ago to this date, Stipe Miocic evened the score with a fourth-round stoppage of Daniel Cormier to regain his UFC Heavyweight Championship belt and avenge an earlier loss. Now, Miocic will look to protect what is his, while DC is hoping to walk away a champion in what he says will be his last appearance in the UFC Octagon.
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 252 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 | JON | JAKE | CHRIS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daniel Cormier (-115) vs. Stipe Miocic (-105) | Heavyweight | Miocic | Miocic | |
| Marlon Vera (+255) vs. Sean O'Malley (-310) | Bantamweight | |||
| Jair Rozenstruik (-145) vs. Junior dos Santos (+125) | Heavyweight | Rozenstruik | ||
| John Dodson (+170) vs. Merab Dvalishvili (-200) | Bantamweight | Dvalishvili | Dvalishvili | Dvalishvili |
| ||||
| UFC 252 RECORD | 2-2 | 1-3 | 3-1 | |
| 2020 RECORD | 24-9 | 20-13 | 17-16 | |
| 2020 PERCENTAGE | .727 | .606 | .515 | |
| 2019 RECORD | 39-19 | 35-23 | 32-26 | |
| 2019 PERCENTAGE | .672 | .603 | .552 | |
| ALL-TIME | 158-90 | 153-95 | 125-93 | |
| ALL-TIME PERCENTAGE | .637 | .617 | .573 |
MATCHUP | WEIGHT | JOE "SUNTZU" | SHAUN |
|---|---|---|---|
| Daniel Cormier (-115) vs. Stipe Miocic (-105) | Heavyweight | Miocic | |
| Marlon Vera (+255) vs. Sean O'Malley (-310) | Bantamweight | ||
| Jair Rozenstruik (-145) vs. Junior dos Santos (+125) | Heavyweight | Rozenstruik | |
| John Dodson (+170) vs. Merab Dvalishvili (-200) | Bantamweight | Dvalishvili | Dvalishvili |
| |||
| UFC 252 RECORD | 3-1 | 1-3 | |
| 2020 RECORD | 22-11 | 23-10 | |
| 2020 PERCENTAGE | .655 | .697 | |
| 2019 RECORD | 34-24 | 34-24 | |
| 2019 PERCENTAGE | .586 | .586 | |
| ALL-TIME | 83-54 | 87-50 | |
| ALL-TIME PERCENTAGE | .606 | .635 |
THE PICKERS
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 9th 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.
