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Austin Swaim's UFC DFS lineups picks for UFC 331 - Van vs. Pantoja 2. Top MMA fighter picks this week include Gable Steveson, Arman Tsarukyan, Casey O'Neill, Joshua Van, and Tai Tuivasa.
Every week, DraftKings Daily Fantasy has MMA contests featuring the full schedule of UFC fights. The DFS slate for UFC 331: Van vs. Pantoja 2 locks Saturday at 5 p.m. EST on Paramount+.
Saturday's main event is a flyweight championship bout between Joshua Van and Alexandre Pantoja. The two met last December, and a broken arm for Pantoja just seconds into the fight halted the action. Now, the Brazilian will take his swipe at Van once and for all.
Here is a full breakdown of my favorite picks on the card in each pricing tier.
UFC 331 DraftKings DFS Studs to Target
Gable Steveson ($9,900)
Gable Steveson is one of the top UFC prospects ever. You're talking about an Olympic gold medalist, NFL training camp invitee, WWE star, and four-time All-American wrestler at Minnesota -- all before his 27th birthday -- in a heavyweight division that is kind to wrestlers.
The promotion is handling their prized possession with kid gloves. Sean Sharaf is a one-dimensional kickboxer struggling in his own dimension, posting a -7.59 striking success rate (SSR) and absorbing a whopping 15.00 significant strikes per minute.
Sharaf, though, does seem tough. He lasted into Round 2 despite the whoopings against power threats Steven Asplund and Junior Tafa. However, in this matchup, it looms extremely large that he's never defended a takedown in the UFC.
Steveson should have a real path to dominate with his primary skillset, which also scores well in fantasy. DraftKings Sportsbook has him -300 to win in the first round, too.
Arman Tsarukyan ($9,100)
RotoBaller's MMA optimizer expects Mauricio Ruffy to be one of the more popular underdogs on the slate at roughly 23.0% rostered. Between his sweet striking style and knockout power, I get it.
Ruffy's takedown defense (86%) has also held up fairly well so far. So, why would I turn to Arman Tsarukyan? Because his style will be the one scoring points in a quick win or a longer fight. Ruffy will need an early finish.
Tsarukyan has dominated on the mat, landing 3.27 takedowns at a 37% rate on his attempts. The 29-year-old from Armenia is a prime title challenger who has also finished three of his last four foes.
While I'm expecting Ruffy to have made some improvements in grappling defense since a second-round submission loss to Benoit Saint Denis, it's tough to juxtapose that result with stopping the assault from "Batman" over the course of 25 minutes.
Dooho Choi ($8,900)
I never predicted a late-career surge from "The Korean Superboy", but Dooho Choi has delivered.
He's knocked out three straight accomplished, multi-time UFC winners: Bill Algeo, Nate Landwehr, and Daniel "Willycat" Santos. Choi's 1.20% knockdown rate (KD%) has held elite through a massive octagon sample, totaling over 83 minutes in the cage. His power is no joke.
NASTY BODY SHOT BY THE KOREAN SUPERBOY
📺 @paramountplus pic.twitter.com/JxipvgL6c1
— UFC on Paramount+ (@UFConParamount) May 17, 2026
Many will avoid Choi in DFS because Patricio Pitbull, 39, has only been (T)KO'd twice in 46 pro fights -- and one was an injury. But, like all of us, he's older than he's ever been, and he's really struggled in the UFC.
Pitbull is on the wrong end of a three-inch reach gap against Choi, and he's posted a poor -1.84 SSR in three appearances. He used five takedowns to coast past Dan Ige, but since returning from military service in Korea, Choi's takedown defense has been solid. He's stuffed 12 of 19 tries.
My model has Choi 44.9% likely to find a finish, but he's projected for a pretty low roster rate (27.7%) in the optimizer because of the options around him perceived to have a higher ceiling.
UFC 331 DraftKings DFS Mid-Tier Picks
Iwo Baraniewski ($8,700)
Forget a second round. Iwo Baraniewski hasn't needed a second minute in four UFC octagon appearances, but he's getting a little bit of doubt from oddsmakers this weekend as he steps up in competition level.
It's warranted. Alonzo Menifield is a grizzled veteran who has won three of his last four, and "Atomic" Alonzo just got done with a fraud check in Macau against Zhang Mingyang. But, the 38-year-old still has some glaring holes in his profile.
Menifield's +0.03 SSR is pretty flat, and he's been KO'd in four of his last five losses with a mediocre striking defense (51%) overall.
It's true that skill translates to a higher level of competition, but Baraniewski has destroyed guys for an unthinkable 11.90 KD% that -- against others -- haven't gone down quite as easily. Plus, his regional background was in judo and jiu-jitsu before appearing on the Contender Series.
HE'S A PROBLEM AT 205lbs!! 🇵🇱
Iwo Baraniewski goes for the leg kicks straight into GNP for the R1 TKO!
[ #UFCVegas118 | 📺 @paramountplus ] pic.twitter.com/neCZyWMI3i
— UFC on Paramount+ (@UFConParamount) June 7, 2026
This fight is -245 to wrap up in the first 7.5 minutes, so you'll want exposure in DFS. I just think Baraniewski is a wrecking ball, so he's my preferred side.
Joshua Van ($8,300)
DraftKings doesn't adjust salaries for projected fight duration, so a title fight around the midpoint is impossible to ignore. The same can be said for Joshua Van's striking volume.
No fighter in UFC history has landed more significant strikes (1,230) over their first 145 octagon minutes than Van, a flyweight from Myanmar. It's held through now championship-level competition for three fights, as well.
I don't think many took him seriously before last December's first matchup with Alexandre Pantoja, but since winning that fight via injury, he has also dispatched grappling savant Tatsuro Taira with a Round 5 knockout. His decision win over Rei Tsuruya has aged like wine, too.
Pantoja will try to stall Van with control time as Taira did, and he's got the best "backpack" position in UFC to do so. But, in the moments Van can explode at distance, the former Brazilian champ's striking defense (49%) has always been poor.
My model has Van 64.8% likely to win, and the odds are closer to a coin flip.
Brunno Ferreira ($7,800)
I genuinely don't know who is laying chalk with Edmen Shahbazyan this week, and that also applies to daily fantasy.
Shahbazyan is coming off a somewhat competitive decision loss to Brendan Allen, a top-five-ranked middleweight, but his strength of victory before that is poor. Andre Muniz, Andre Petroski, and Dylan Budka are all likely off the roster by the end of 2026.
Brunno Ferreira is probably a couple of losses from that point, but "The Hulk" has a 6-4 record with impressive wins over Gregory Rodrigues and a surging Jackson McVey (2-2 UFC).
These two fighters are sort of like the Spider-Man meme. They carry early knockout power, underrated grappling skills, and questionable gas tanks. Ferreira's salary is $600 less, and his projected roster rate (18.9%) in the optimizer is lower than Shahbazyan's (24.1%). I'll root for variance here.
UFC 331 DraftKings Underdog Plays
Michael Aswell Jr. ($7,200)
I'm not sure Michael Aswell Jr. can participate in a boring fight.
"The Texas Kid" has landed 7.60 significant strikes per minute thus far with a decent SSR (+0.57). Joshua Van's training partner has just been lacking seminal moments, per a 0.43 KD%. Plus, for fantasy purposes, there's no wrestling offense whatsoever. He did knock out Lucas Almeida, though:
GOT IT DONE IN UNDER A MINUTE 😱
Michael Aswell Jr. gets his first UFC win in Brazil!
[ #UFCRio is LIVE on the @ESPN app ] pic.twitter.com/66Nmav0pBr
— UFC (@ufc) October 11, 2025
In a matchup with JooSang Yoo, I sort of lean here by default. Yoo's two UFC results are totally inconclusive, with a knockout of Jeka Saragih (1-3 UFC) followed by a knockout loss against Willycat Santos, where he got caught taunting with his hands down.
Yoo hasn't attempted a takedown thus far, and Aswell Jr. survived a regional fight with Yadier del Valle (3-1 UFC), where the Cuban grappler had his back in multiple rounds. We're probably looking at a 15-minute striking match in this fight.
If that's the case, Yoo is just going to have a hard time scoring on DraftKings without a knockout. It's dog or pass.
Ozzy Diaz ($6,800)
Los Angeles native Ozzy Diaz is getting a home game here, and I think he's got the tools to pull off a total stunner against Ryan Gandra.
Gandra's stock is soaring because his power threat obliterated the non-existent striking defenses of Zachary Reese (43%) and Jose Daniel Medina (46%). Not only is Diaz (61%) a much tougher foe to land on overall, but he defended 72% (!) of Ateba Gautier's shots after eye surgery in his last bout.
The boxer from California has been fed to the wolves with Gautier and Zhang Mingyang on short notice at 205 pounds. But in a fair middleweight fight against Djorden Santos, he got his hand raised with a clean decision.
The Brazilian favorite showed massive longevity shortcomings on the regional scene. If Diaz can survive an early flurry, I think he will completely take over the fight.
Tai Tuivasa ($6,600)
Tai Tuivasa has lost seven fights in a row. This one won't be for everyone, and that's okay. I'm fascinated by this matchup between "Bam Bam" and UFC returner Robelis Despaigne in a matchup of heavyweights who have to be thrilled they won't get taken down on Saturday.
Despaigne went 1-2 in the UFC when he lost to Austen Lane via unanimous decision, failing to knock out the 1-5 UFC gatekeeper. His only win was a first-round KO of Josh Parisian (2-5 UFC).
Amidst Tuivasa's losing streak due to grappling limitations, the one thing he hasn't done often is quickly and quietly go into the night. He's been KO'd just once in 18 UFC fights inside the first round, and that was at the hands of top-five contender Sergei Pavlovich.
Despagne couldn't find the button against Lane. What has folks so confident he'll find it on Tuivasa? If "The Big Boy" isn't able to find an early shot on Tai, who is even winning this fight? What does it look like?
I'd much rather just punt to Tuivasa's salary since his 1.63 KD% has plenty of upside, too.
