This article is part of our UFC Picks series.
While UFC 234 wasn't quite what it was cracked up to be due to a late main event cancellation, the promotion is paying its debts here with an absolutely stacked card at UFC 235. First, we get two title fights, beginning with the first title defense on the latest comeback trail for Jon "Bones" Jones, who enters as a massive favorite. In the co-main, Tyron Woodley puts his belt on the line against the younger, undefeated Kamaru Usman, who is one of the hottest up-and-comers in the sport today. Fight fans also get to see the UFC debut of Ben Askren, who was acquired from ONE Championship in exchange for Demetrious Johnson. The rest of the card is an exceptional balance of young prospects and electric strikers, so let's get to it.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 235 preview.
| MATCHUP | WEIGHT CLASS | JON | EVAN | JAKE |
| Jon Jones (-800) vs. Anthony Smith (+550) | Light Heavyweight Championship | Jones | Jones | Jones |
| Tyron Woodley (-175) vs. Kamaru Usman (+145) | Welterweight Championship | Usman | ||
| Robbie Lawler (+250) vs. Ben Askren (-300) | Welterweight | Askren | Askren | Askren |
| Weili Zhang (-120) vs. Tecia Torres (+100) | Women's Strawweight | Zhang | Zhang | |
| Cody Garbrandt (-165) vs. Pedro Munhoz (+145) | Bantamweight | |||
| RECORD | 4-1 | 3-2 | 2-3 | |
| OVERALL (since UFC 200) | 101-65 | 91-75 | 103-63 | |
| PERCENTAGE | .608 | .548 | .620 |
| MATCHUP | WEIGHT CLASS | RICHARD | CHRIS |
| Jon Jones (-800) vs. Anthony Smith (+550) | Light Heavyweight Championship | Jones | Jones |
| Tyron Woodley (-175) vs. Kamaru Usman (+145) | Welterweight Championship | ||
| Robbie Lawler (+250) vs. Ben Askren (-300) | Welterweight | Askren | |
| Weili Zhang (-120) vs. Tecia Torres (+100) | Women's Strawweight | ||
| Cody Garbrandt (-165) vs. Pedro Munhoz (+145) | Bantamweight | ||
| RECORD | 2-3 | 1-4 | |
| OVERALL (since UFC 200) | 81-56 | 56-50 | |
| PERCENTAGE | .591 | .528 |
| MATCHUP | WEIGHT CLASS | Joe "SunTszu" | Shaun "DFSniper" |
| Jon Jones (-800) vs. Anthony Smith (+550) | Light Heavyweight Championship | Jones | Jones |
| Tyron Woodley (-175) vs. Kamaru Usman (+145) | Welterweight Championship | ||
| Robbie Lawler (+250) vs. Ben Askren (-300) | Welterweight | Askren | Askren |
| Weili Zhang (-120) vs. Tecia Torres (+100) | Women's Strawweight | Zhang | |
| Cody Garbrandt (-165) vs. Pedro Munhoz (+145) | Bantamweight | Munhoz | |
| RECORD | 3-2 | 3-2 | |
| OVERALL (since UFC 200) | 33-22 | 36-19 | |
| PERCENTAGE | .600 | .655 |
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: 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 @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!
