RotoWire Expert Picks: UFC 281

RotoWire Expert Picks: UFC 281

This article is part of our UFC Picks series.

The UFC always brings it for its annual event at Madison Square Garden, and Saturday will be no different, with titles in the middleweight and women's strawweight divisions on the line.

As a reminder, the following selections are purely picks. If you're looking for a fantasy-specific breakdown of these fights, check out the MMA Mashup from Chris Olson or our DraftKings MMA preview courtesy of Jon Litterine. We also have a MMA DFS Lineup Optimizer to try if you're looking to try out different combinations of fighters or generate multiple lineups.

MATCHUP

WEIGHT 

CLASS

JONJAKECHRIS
(C) Israel Adesanya (-165) vs.
Alex Pereira (+140)

Middleweight
Championship

AdesanyaAdesanyaAdesanya
(C) Carla Esparza (+270) vs.
Zhang Weili (-325)

Women's
Strawweight
Championship

ZhangZhangZhang
Dustin Poirier (-175) vs.
Michael Chandler (+150)

Lightweight

ChandlerPoirierChandler
Frankie Edgar (+175) vs.
Chris Gutierrez (-205)

Bantamweight

GutierrezEdgarGutierrez
Dan Hooker (-155) vs.
Claudio Puelles (+135)

Lightweight

HookerHookerPuelles
     
UFC 281 RECORD 3-23-22-3
2022 RECORD 32-2439-1723-23
2022 PERCENTAGE .571.696.500
2021 RECORD 35-2842-2137-26
2021 PERCENTAGE .556.667.586
2020 RECORD 36-1834-2028-26
2020 PERCENTAGE .667.630.519
2019 RECORD 39-1935-2332-26
2019 PERCENTAGE .672.603.552
ALL-TIME  237-151247-141 191-148
ALL-TIME PERCENTAGE .611.637.563

 

MATCHUP

WEIGHT 
CLASS

JOE

"SUNTZU"

SHAUN 
"TheDFSniper"

(C) Israel Adesanya (-165) vs.
Alex Pereira (+140)

Middleweight
Championship

AdesanyaAdesanya
(C) Carla Esparza (+270) vs.
Zhang Weili (-325)

Women's
Strawweight
Championship

ZhangZhang
Dustin Poirier (-175) vs.
Michael Chandler (+150)

Lightweight

PoirierChandler
Frankie Edgar (+175) vs.
Chris Gutierrez (-205)

Bantamweight

GutierrezEdgar
Dan Hooker (-155) vs.
Claudio Puelles (+135)

Lightweight

HookerHooker
    
UFC 281 RECORD 4-12-3
2022 RECORD 36-2037-19
2022 PERCENTAGE .643.661
2021 RECORD 38-2536-27
2021 PERCENTAGE .603.571
2020 RECORD 36-1838-16
2020 PERCENTAGE .667.704
2019 RECORD 34-2434-24
2019 PERCENTAGE .586.586
ALL-TIME 171-106175-102
ALL-TIME PERCENTAGE .617.632

 

MATCHUP

WEIGHT 
CLASS

COLE     

DRAKE

(C) Israel Adesanya (-165) vs.
Alex Pereira (+140)

Middleweight
Championship

AdesanyaPereira
(C) Carla Esparza (+270) vs.
Zhang Weili (-325)

Women's
Strawweight
Championship

ZhangZhang
Dustin Poirier (-175) vs.
Michael Chandler (+150)

Lightweight

PoirierPoirier
Frankie Edgar (+175) vs.
Chris Gutierrez (-205)

Bantamweight

EdgarGutierrez
Dan Hooker (-155) vs.
Claudio Puelles (+135)

Lightweight

HookerPuelles
    
UFC 281 RECORD 3-24-1
2022 RECORD 36-2036-20
2022 PERCENTAGE .643.643
2021 RECORD 43-2117-14
2021 PERCENTAGE .672.548
2020 RECORD N/AN/A
2020 PERCENTAGE N/AN/A
2019 RECORD N/AN/A
2019 PERCENTAGE N/AN/A
ALL-TIME 76-3953-34
ALL-TIME PERCENTAGE .661.609

THE PICKERS

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 on the RotoWire MMA Podcast and guest on the RotoWire Fantasy Football Podcast. Follow him on Twitter at @RotoJake.

Chris Olson: Contributor at RotoWire to "Fight IQ, presented by RotoWire," as well as The MMA Mashup, DFS Baseball, a MMA gambling columnist and 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. 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.

Cole Shelton: Cole Shelton is a full-time sports writer focusing on MMA. His work has appeared on BJPenn.com, CBC Sports, Sports Betting Dime and Blue Jays Nation. He currently pens the MMA Best Bets column on RotoWire. Follow him on Twitter at @ColeShelton91.

Drake Burden: Drake is a proven DFS winner with multiple four-figure paydays under his belt. He took an interest to writing MMA during the pandemic and is active in various Discords and other social media communities. Follow him on Twitter at @DBurdz.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jake Letarski
RotoWire Editor for College Basketball and MMA. Frequent podcaster, plus radio and video guest. Follow Jake on Twitter at @RotoJake.
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