This article is part of our UFC Picks series.
What UFC 243 lacks in depth, it makes up for with one of the best championship fights the company can make. Undefeated interim champion Israel Adesanya has looked better and better each time he's entered the Octagon, but Robert "Bobby Knuckles" Whittaker hits like a ton of bricks and has his sights set on stomping out the prospect's hopes. The two will unify the UFC Middleweight Championship when they clash Saturday in Australia.
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 243 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Roberrt Whittaker (-105) vs. Israel Adesanya (-115) | Middleweight Championship | Adesanya | ||
Al Iaquinta (+115) vs. Dan Hooker (-135) | Lightweight | Hooker | Hooker | |
Tai Tuivasa (-360) vs. Serghei Spivac (+300) | Heavyweight | |||
Luke Jumeau (+165) vs. Dhiego Lima (-190) | Welterweight | Lima | Lima | |
Justin Tafa (-130) vs. Yorgan De Castro (+110) | Heavyweight | De Castro | ||
| UFC 243 RECORD | 2-3 | 1-4 | 3-2 | |
| 2019 RECORD | 31-17 | 29-19 | 26-22 | |
| 2019 PERCENTAGE | 646 | .604 | .542 | |
| ALL-TIME | 126-79 | 127-78 | 102-74 | |
| ALL-TIME PERCENTAGE | .615 | .620 | .580 |
| MATCHUP | WEIGHT CLASS | CHRIS OLSON | JOE SUNTZU | SHAUN TheDFSniper |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Roberrt Whittaker (-105) vs. Israel Adesanya (-115) | Middleweight Championship | |||
Al Iaquinta (+115) vs. Dan Hooker (-135) | Lightweight | Hooker | ||
Tai Tuivasa (-360) vs. Serghei Spivac (+300) | Heavyweight | |||
Luke Jumeau (+165) vs. Dhiego Lima (-190) | Welterweight | Lima | Lima | |
Justin Tafa (-130) vs. Yorgan De Castro (+110) | Heavyweight | De Castro | ||
| UFC 243 RECORD | 2-3 | 0-5 | 2-3 | |
| 2019 RECORD | 27-21 | 28-20 | 29-19 | |
| 2019 PERCENTAGE | .563 | .583 | .604 | |
| ALL-TIME | 78-67 | 55-39 | 59-35 | |
| ALL-TIME PERCENTAGE | .538 | .585 | .628 |
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.
