RADIO
The UFC is back to its monthly numbered-events with the 252nd edition taking place, once more, inside the UFC APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada. This is undoubtedly the biggest of cards the promotion has put together in the Vegas center since getting back home from Fight Island, and you'll see why soon--unless you have read the title of this column, which pretty much gives it away.
Let's lose no more time here, folks. We're about to watch the biggest fight that one ever can as the heavyweight title is on the line for the third time between the two top-fighters at the no-weight-limits division: Stipe Miocic and Daniel Cormier. Both men have split their particular war 1-1 and this will be the deciding bout to crown an undisputed champ at the top of the scale. Even more, this fight might mark the end of Cormier's career, who would definitely love to call it quits with the belt in hand. And although the main card only features four fights this time, oh boy is it packed: bantamweight-sensation Sean O'Malley will be back inside the Octagon, another couple of bantams will open the night, and we will witness two more heavyweights trying to knock each other out in dos Santos and Rozenstruik. Pretty exciting times ahead!
In this article, I will be providing you with my daily fantasy MMA, UFC lineup picks for DraftKings for UFC 252: Miocic vs. Cormier 3 on 8/15/20. You can check out our FanDuel MMA DFS picks as well. These DFS lineup picks can vary from higher-priced players and elite options to lower-priced fighters and value picks on DraftKings. Give me a follow on Twitter @chapulana. Good luck!
DraftKings MMA Heavyweight - UFC DFS Lineup Picks
Daniel Cormier, $8000 - vs. Stipe Miocic
This fight is, plain and simply, bonkers. These two men have fought in title-bouts 15 times since 2016 and only once (Cormier vs. Anderson Silva) without a belt on the line. That's insane. Even crazier is the fact that Miocic was able to defend the title three consecutive times before dropping it to Cormier in 2018 to then go on to beat the new-heavyweight and regain the strap back last year.
This is the third time we'll watch these two inside the Octagon and the final time they'll face each other, settling things once for all. Both Cormier and Miocic finished each other early once via KO in their prior two contests. There is nothing to discover here that we don't already know. Cormier is an Olympic renowned wrestler. Miocic can punch the living hell out of anybody. One little detail that can benefit Cormier--assuming both guys stick to what they do best inside the cage--is the smaller octagon, which should play in the wrestler's favor giving Miocic less room to strike from distance yet allowing Cormier to have a nicer control of space and against-the-wall grappling.
No matter what, this should be a hella close fight. Call me a romantic, but I'm going with Cormier retiring on top beating Stipe here. I trust his ground game more than I do Miocic's striking. I think Cormier would dominate and get his strikes in on the ground too. Vegas' odds are super close for both men, and the salaries are at $8K and $8.2K for Cormier and Miocic respectively. Either pick is worth it, and who knows how the hell this highly-competitive fight will end.
DraftKings MMA Bantamweight- UFC DFS Lineup Picks
Sean O'Malley, $9200 - vs. Marlon Vera
While O'Malley has just three fights under the UFC banner since he debuted a couple of years ago, he knows no defeat in that span. That being said, facing Chito Vera comes as a level-up in competition with Vera holding a 5-1 record in his last six fights. Chito dropped his last one to Song Yadong, sure, but we went the distance and only lost to the judges' decision.
In his two 2020 fights, O'Malley has dominated and devastated his opponents with two KOs in two minutes of fighting each. No grappling needed with zero takedown attempts and only 42 SS attempts (31 of them landed) is all SO'M has needed to get those couple of wins. The key for a fourth-straight W will rest on Sean's ability to keep his great speed and mobility up, and the exchanges off the mat.
That's Vera's best chance at a W here, as he has a clear edge on grappling. Considering how O'Malley outperforms Vera 6.6 to 5.0 SSlanded/60sec, everything that is not linked to taking it down to the floor will hurt Vera's chances of winning. I don't see Vera getting O'Malley down and beating him there, though, and I'd bank on another early KO from the phenom here.
DraftKings MMA Heavyweight - UFC DFS Lineup Picks
Jairzinho Rozenstruik, $8400 - vs. Junior dos Santos
Rozenstruik looked like an unstoppable force all the way up to his last fight this past May against Francis Ngannou when he was struck by a goddam train and KO'd in 20 seconds. Other than that, Jairzinho's resume is impeccable with four wins--all via KO--debuting in February 2019. That loss to Ngannou had to hurt (literally and figuratively), but Rozenstruik will look to build his cache back up against veteran JdS.
Junior dos Santos has been around since 2008 and although the 2008-to-2012 version of the Brazilian (then a champion) is far from the current one, this is still a very very dangerous man. Dos Santos is 2-3 since 2018, sure, and his four last fights have ended early (the prior two in favor, the last two against with back-to-back losses to Ngannou and Curtis Blaydes) so dos Santos should be looking to get back on track here.
Neither of these two has attempted a takedown since the end of 2014, so you know what we're into here. Fists, fists, fists. But most-probably not so many, though, as they land with such a force that whoever gets one to land square will claim victory 99 percent of the time. And I'm going with the not-so-long-ago seemingly-unstoppable Rozenstruik here. This boy is Ngannou-lite and Dos Santos' ching has proved weak lately, which doesn't inspire much confidence.
DraftKings MMA Bantamweight - UFC DFS Lineup Picks
Merab Dvalishvili, $8700- vs. John Dodson
It feels crazy to think that Dodson has been fighting inside Octagons for so long, but the truth is that he's been there forever. And had it not been for some certain GOAT (Demetrious Johnson) odds are he would have become a champion at some point in his UFC career. After Dodson lost to Johnson for the second time in a title-fight in 2015 he's been on a wild path that has him at a 4-4 record. Although he won his last bout against Nathaniel Wood, he dropped the two prior to that against top-tier competition in Petr Yan and Jimmie Rivera.
Dvalishvili, on the other hand, has been on a kick-ass run as of late and spanning back to September 2018 having won all of his last four fights after losing his first two under the UFC banner. Merab has looked impressive--to say the least. Dvalishvili can do it both on the ground (104 TD attempts landing 50% of them through his career) and standing (he outperforms Dodson lading 4.0 to 3.3 SS/60sec, and he does at virtually the same success rate).
When it comes to defending themselves, Dodson suffers a bit at stopping TDs (allows 44% of them from foes) while Merab just put opponents straight away (only allows 20% of attempted TDs). Both fighters allow 40% of the SS thrown their way, but Dvalishvili's much less targeted (2.1 SS/60sec absorbed to Dodson's 3.8). Perhaps Dodson is just flying under the radar here and we're missing on him big-time, but everything points toward Dvalishvili getting his fifth W in a row this Saturday.
