This article is part of our UFC Picks series.
It's fight week. Man, does it feel great to say that. While the COVID-19 pandemic threw a wrench into the proposed matchup between Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov, along with several other events, we'll be getting a stacked card Saturday to make up for it. Two titles will be on the line -- one of the interim variety -- while the UFC appears to be taking every precaution to put on a safe event, testing fighters daily.
As a reminder, the following selections are purely picks. If you're looking for a fantasy-specific breakdown of these fights on DraftKings, click here for Jon Litterine's 249 Preview or tune into Fight IQ live Friday at 8:00 p.m. EST on the RotoWire Youtube Channel. With FanDuel launching a MMA game as well, we also have added a new DFS Preview courtesy of Chris Olson.
| MATCHUP | WEIGHT CLASS | JON | JAKE | CHRIS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tony Ferguson (-165) vs. Justin Gaethje (+145) | Interim | | ||
| Henry Cejudo (-240) vs. Dominick Cruz (+200) | Bantamweight | Cejudo | Cejudo | Cejudo |
| Francis Ngannou (-275) vs. Jair Rozenstruik (+235) | Heavyweight | Ngannou | Ngannou | Ngannou |
| Jeremy Stephens (+215) vs. Calvin Kattar (-255) | Featherweight | Kattar | Kattar | Kattar |
| Greg Hardy (-175) vs. Yorgan de Castro (+155) | Heavyweight | |||
| UFC 249 RECORD | 3-2 | 3-2 | 3-2 | |
| 2020 RECORD | 14-5 | 12-7 | 8-11 | |
| 2020 PERCENTAGE | .737 | .632 | .421 | |
| 2019 RECORD | 39-19 | 35-23 | 32-26 | |
| 2019 PERCENTAGE | .672 | .603 | .552 | |
| ALL-TIME | 148-86 | 145-89 | 116-89 | |
| ALL-TIME PERCENTAGE | .632 | .620 | .566 |
MATCHUP | WEIGHT | JOE "SUNTZU" | SHAUN |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tony Ferguson (-165) vs. Justin Gaethje (+145) | Interim | Gaethje | Gaethje |
| Henry Cejudo (-240) vs. Dominick Cruz (+200) | Bantamweight | ||
| Francis Ngannou (-275) vs. Jair Rozenstruik (+235) | Heavyweight | Ngannou | Ngannou |
| Jeremy Stephens (+215) vs. Calvin Kattar (-255) | Featherweight | Kattar | Kattar |
| Greg Hardy (-175) vs. Yorgan de Castro (+155) | Heavyweight | Hardy | |
| UFC 249 RECORD | 3-2 | 4-1 | |
| 2020 RECORD | 13-6 | 14-5 | |
| 2020 PERCENTAGE | .684 | .737 | |
| 2019 RECORD | 34-24 | 34-24 | |
| 2019 PERCENTAGE | .586 | .586 | |
| ALL-TIME | 74-49 | 78-45 | |
| ALL-TIME PERCENTAGE | .602 | .634 |
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.
Chris Olson: Contributor at RotoWire to "Fight IQ, presented by RotoWire," as well as DFS Baseball, our FanDuel MMA column, 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, 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.
