This article is part of our UFC Picks series.
While a heavyweight title rematch has the main event spot at UFC 241 on Saturday, Nate Diaz is dominating the views and clicks as he returns from a three-year layoff to face Anthony Pettis in the co-main event. Check out how the RotoWire staff views the pay-per-view fights playing out for a card that has much tighter betting lines than most in recent memory.
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 241 preview or tune into Fight IQ live Friday at 8:00 p.m. EST on the RotoWire Youtube Channel.
| MATCHUP | WEIGHT CLASS | JON | JAKE | RICHARD |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daniel Cormier (-140) vs. Stipe Miocic (+120) | Light Heavyweight Championship | Miocic | Miocic | Miocic |
Anthony Pettis (-125) vs. Nate Diaz (+105) | Welterweight | Diaz | ||
Yoel Romero (-155) vs. Paulo Costa (+135) | Middleweight | |||
Gabriel Benitez (+290) vs. Sodiq Yussuff (-350) | Featherweight | Yussuff | Yussuff | Yusuff |
Derrick Brunson (+160) vs. Ian Heinisch (-185) | Middleweight | Brunson | ||
| UFC 241 RECORD | 2-3 | 3-2 | 3-2 | |
| 2019 RECORD | 25-13 | 24-14 | 20-18 | |
| 2019 PERCENTAGE | .658 | .632 | .526 | |
| ALL-TIME | 120-75 | 122-73 | 96-70 | |
| ALL-TIME PERCENTAGE | .615 | .626 | .578 |
| MATCHUP | WEIGHT CLASS | CHRIS OLSON | JOE SUNTZU | SHAUN TheDFSniper |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daniel Cormier (-140) vs. Stipe Miocic (+120) | Light Heavyweight Championship | Miocic | Miocic |
|
Anthony Pettis (-125) vs. Nate Diaz (+105) | Welterweight |
| Diaz |
|
Yoel Romero (-155) vs. Paulo Costa (+135) | Middleweight | Costa |
|
|
Gabriel Benitez (+290) vs. Sodiq Yussuff (-350) | Featherweight | Yussuff | Yussuff | Yussuff |
Derrick Brunson (+160) vs. Ian Heinisch (-185) | Middleweight | Brunson |
| Brunson |
| UFC 241 RECORD | 4-1 | 3-2 | 2-3 | |
| 2019 RECORD | 21-17 | 25-13 | 24-14 | |
| 2019 PERCENTAGE | .553 | .658 | .632 | |
| ALL-TIME | 72-63 | 52-32 | 54-30 | |
| ALL-TIME PERCENTAGE | .533 | .619 | .643 |
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.
Richard Mann: Richard is a stats-based analyst that has appeared on ESPN MMA via Fightmetric. For RotoWire, he contributes as a fight 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 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.
