This article is part of our UFC Picks series.
Two years ago was the last time fight fans saw Conor McGregor grace the Octagon, where he emphatically knocked out Eddie Alvarez to become the sport's third-ever athlete to hold a title belt in two separate divisions. After reaching the pinnacle of the sport, McGregor took some time off for the birth of his first child, but also earned a massive payday with a boxing match against Floyd Mayweather. Over that span, Khabib Nurmagomedov improved his professional record to 26-0, adding three more wins to his resume without losing a round in the process. The fight game could not elude McGregor for long, however, and when Nurmagomedov got involved in an altercation with one of Conor's teammates, the bad blood started to brew. After an infamous incident with a hand cart and a bus, we fast forward to UFC 229 in Las Vegas, where the two will face off for the lightweight title that McGregor never actually lost.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 UFC 229 preview.
| MATCHUP | WEIGHT CLASS | JON | EVAN | JAKE |
| Conor McGregor (+140) vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov (-170) | Lightweight Championship | Nurmagomedov | ||
| Anthony Pettis (+270) vs. Tony Ferguson (-350) | Lightweight | Ferguson | Ferguson | Ferguson |
| Dominick Reyes (-225) vs. Ovince Saint Preux (+185) | Light Heavyweight | Reyes | Reyes | Reyes |
| Alexander Volkov (-175) vs. Derrick Lewis (+155) | Heavyweight | |||
| Fellice Herrig (-130) vs. Michelle Waterson (+110) | Women's Strawweight | |||
| RECORD | 3-2 | 2-3 | 2-3 | |
| OVERALL (since UFC 200) | 87-55 | 78-64 | 86-56 | |
| PERCENTAGE | .613 | .549 | .606 |
| MATCHUP | WEIGHT CLASS | RICHARD | CHRIS |
| Conor McGregor (+140) vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov (-170) | Lightweight Championship | Nurmagomedov | |
| Anthony Pettis (+270) vs. Tony Ferguson (-350) | Lightweight | Ferguson | |
| Dominick Reyes (-225) vs. Ovince Saint Preux (+185) | Light Heavyweight | Reyes | Reyes |
| Alexander Volkov (-175) vs. Derrick Lewis (+155) | Heavyweight | ||
| Fellice Herrig (-130) vs. Michelle Waterson (+110) | Women's Strawweight | ||
| RECORD | 2-3 | 2-3 | |
| OVERALL (since UFC 200) | 66-47 | 43-39 | |
| PERCENTAGE | .584 | .524 |
| MATCHUP | WEIGHT CLASS | Joe "SunTszu" | DFSSniper |
| Conor McGregor (+140) vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov (-170) | Lightweight Championship | Nurmagomedov | Nurmagomedov |
| Anthony Pettis (+270) vs. Tony Ferguson (-350) | Lightweight | Ferguson | Ferguson |
| Dominick Reyes (-225) vs. Ovince Saint Preux (+185) | Light Heavyweight | Reyes | Reyes |
| Alexander Volkov (-175) vs. Derrick Lewis (+155) | Heavyweight | ||
| Fellice Herrig (-130) vs. Michelle Waterson (+110) | Women's Strawweight | Waterson | |
| RECORD | 4-1 | 3-2 | |
| OVERALL (since UFC 200) | 21-10 | 18-13 | |
| PERCENTAGE | .677 | .581 |
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 and WatchStadium contributor. Host of the RotoWire MMA Podcast and guest on the RotoWire Fantasy Football Podcast. Follow him on Twitter at @JakeSki52.
Richard Mann: Richard is a stats-based analyst that has appeared on ESPN MMA via Fightmetric. He is the primary Bellator 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 7th 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.
Disagree with these picks? Let your opinion be heard in the comments!
