RotoWire Staff Picks: UFC 209

RotoWire Staff Picks: UFC 209

This article is part of our UFC Picks series.

Update (3/3): The scheduled interim lightweight title fight between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson has been cancelled after Nurmagomedov was forced to withdraw due to health concerns. Our staff will no longer be picking this fight, even if the UFC pulls off a last-minute replacement.

Back at UFC 205 in the Madison Square Garden, a welterweight championship fight between champion Tyron Woodley and challenger Stephen Thompson was fought to a majority draw, winning "Fight of the Night" honors along the way. Despite several formidable contenders in the weight class, UFC brass granted Thompson an immediate rematch, but this time the duo will receive main event honors. Preceding this bout will be a top lightweight contender matchup between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson, and the trend of interim belts will continue with the winner taking one home. More importantly, however, the winner will also likely get the right to take on the promotion's biggest draw, Conor McGregor, when he returns to the octagon in mid-2017.

If you're looking for a fantasy-specific breakdown of these fights on DraftKings, click here for Jon Litterine's UFC 209 preview.

MATCHUP WEIGHT CLASS JON EVAN JAKE RICHARD
Stephen Thompson (-150) vs.
Tyron Woodley (+130)
WelterweightThompsonWoodleyWoodleyThompson
Rashad Evans (-190) vs.
Daniel Kelly (+165)
MiddleweightEvansEvansEvansEvans
Lando Vannata (-265) vs.
David Teymur (+205)
LightweightTeymurTeymurVannataVannata
Alistair Overeem (-140) vs.
Mark Hunt (+120)
HeavyweightOvereemOvereemOvereemOvereem
RECORD 2-2 3-1 2-2 1-3
OVERALL (since UFC 200) 36-24 32-28 37-23 20-11

THE PLAYERS

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.
Evan Dahl: Pens our bi-weekly MMA Barometer column. Follow him on Twitter at @RealEvanDahl.
Jake Letarski: MMA and NCAA Hoops Senior Editor. Sirius XM contributor. Host of the RotoWire MMA Podcast, RotoWire Fantasy Football Podcast and RotoWire DFS Podcast. Follow him on Twitter at @JakeSki52.
Richard Mann: Richard is a stats-based analyst that has appeared on ESPN MMA via Fightmetric. He handles event recaps in our Fight Stat Wrap column, and maintains his own, data-driven MMA blog at StrikescoreMMA.com. Follow him on Twitter at @RichardAMann

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ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Evan Dahl
Evan Dahl is a law student who has been a die-hard MMA fan for over a decade. Outside of MMA, he roots for the Broncos, Brewers and Bucks.
Jake Letarski
RotoWire Editor for College Basketball and MMA. Frequent podcaster, plus radio and video guest. Follow Jake on Twitter at @RotoJake.
Jon Litterine
Jon Litterine is RotoWire's lead MMA Writer and MMA Editor. He has covered numerous MMA events live. He's also RW's NHL Prospect Analyst. Jon has been writing for RotoWire since 2005. He is a graduate of U Mass-Lowell.
Richard Mann
Richard is a statistical MMA analyst who regularly appears on ESPN MMA and InterMatWrestle.
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