RotoWire Staff Picks: UFC 253

RotoWire Staff Picks: UFC 253

This article is part of our UFC Picks series.

We're back at Fight Island for a pair of title fights at UFC 253. In the co-main event, Dominick Reyes is coming off an impressive showing against the arguable GOAT Jon Jones, and he'll now take on Jan Blachowicz for Jones' vacated belt. Finishing off the evening will be a pair of pure strikers, as the power of Paulo Costa will be pinned against the finesse of champion Israel Adesanya.

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 253 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
Israel Adesanya (-170) vs.
Paulo Costa (+150)

Middleweight
Championship

 Costa Adesanya Costa
Dominick Reyes (-275) vs.
Jan Blachowicz (+235)

Light

Heavyweight

Championship

ReyesReyesReyes
Kai Kara-France (-235) vs.
Brandon Royval (+195)

Flyweight

Kara-FranceKara-FranceKara-France
Ketlen Vieira (-170) vs.
Sijara Eubanks (+150)

Women's

Bantamweight

VieiraEubanksEubanks
Hakeem Dawodu (-105) vs.
Zubaira Tukhugov (-115)

Featherweight

TukhugovTukhugovDawodu
 

 

   
UFC 253 RECORD 1-41-42-3
2020 RECORD 25-1321-1719-19
2020 PERCENTAGE .658.553.500
2019 RECORD 39-1935-2332-26
2019 PERCENTAGE .672.603.552
ALL-TIME  159-94154-99 127-96
ALL-TIME PERCENTAGE .628.609.570

 

MATCHUP

WEIGHT 
CLASS

JOE

"SUNTZU"

SHAUN 
"TheDFSniper"

Israel Adesanya (-170) vs.
Paulo Costa (+150)

Middleweight
Championship

 Adesanya Adesanya
Dominick Reyes (-275) vs.
Jan Blachowicz (+235)

Light
Heavyweight
Championship

ReyesReyes
Kai Kara-France (-235) vs.
Brandon Royval (+195)

Flyweight

RoyvalKara-France
Ketlen Vieira (-170) vs.
Sijara Eubanks (+150)

Women's
Bantamweight

EubanksVieira
Hakeem Dawodu (-105) vs.
Zubaira Tukhugov (-115)

Featherweight

TukhugovTukhugov
 

 

  
UFC 253 RECORD  2-32-3
2020 RECORD 24-1425-13
2020 PERCENTAGE .632.658
2019 RECORD 34-2434-24
2019 PERCENTAGE .586.586
ALL-TIME 85-5789-53
ALL-TIME PERCENTAGE .599.626

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.

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