UFC Picks: UFC 217

UFC Picks: UFC 217

This article is part of our UFC Picks series.

On what could be a historic day Saturday, Madison Square Garden will host its second UFC event since the legalization of mixed martial arts in the state of New York. Three title belts will be on the line, headlined by the return of former welterweight king Georges St-Pierre. He'll move up a division to take on middleweight champ Michael Bisping in a matchup that's as even as they come. Preceding that bout will be a bantamweight showdown between Cody Garbrandt and T.J. Dillashaw, where a feud leading back to early days at Team Alpha Male has left no shortage of bad blood. Not to be outdone, UFC Women's Strawweight Champion and heavy favorite Joanna Jedrzejczyk looks to stay unbeaten by making her sixth consecutive title defense against Rose Namajunas. With loaded undercards featuring future title challengers as well, UFC 217 is stacked up to be the most exciting card of the year -- and one that offers the most DFS payouts and contests. Check out how the RotoWire MMA staff sees the pay-per-view portion of the card shaking out.

If you're looking for a fantasy-specific breakdown of these fights on DraftKings, click here for Jon Litterine's UFC 217 preview.

MATCHUP WEIGHT CLASS JON EVAN JAKE
(C) Michael Bisping (-110) vs.
Georges St-Pierre (-115)
Middleweight ChampionshipSt-PierreBispingBisping
(C) Cody Garbrandt (-180) vs.
TJ Dillashaw (+150)
Bantamweight ChampionshipGarbrandtGarbrandtGarbrandt
Joanna Jedrzejczyk (-600) vs.
Rose Namajunas (+450)
Women's
Strawweight Championship
JedrzejczykJedrzejczykJedrzejczyk
Stephen Thompson (-185) vs.
Jorge Masvidal (+150)
WelterweightThompsonThompsonThompson
Johny Hendricks (+200) vs.
Paulo Borrachinha (-250)
MiddleweightBorrachinhaBorrachinhaBorrachinha
RECORD 3-2 2-3 2-3
OVERALL (since UFC 200) 54-38 50-42 56-36
PERCENTAGE .587 .543 .609

MATCHUP WEIGHT CLASS RICHARD CHRIS
(C) Michael Bisping (-110) vs.
Georges St-Pierre (-115)
Middleweight ChampionshipBispingSt-Pierre
(C) Cody Garbrandt (-180) vs.
TJ Dillashaw (+150)
Bantamweight ChampionshipGarbrandtDillashaw
Joanna Jedrzejczyk (-600) vs.
Rose Namajunas (+450)
Women's
Strawweight Championship
JedrzejczykJedrzejczyk
Stephen Thompson (-185) vs.
Jorge (+150)
WelterweightThompsonMasvidal
Johny Hendricks (+200) vs.
Paulo Borrachinha (-250)
MiddleweightBorrachinhaBorrachinha
RECORD 2-3 3-2
OVERALL (since UFC 200) 38-25 18-14
PERCENTAGE .603 .563

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.

Chris Olson: Contributor at RotoWire for DFS Baseball, as well as MMA fight recaps. Follow him on Twitter at @RealChrisOlson.

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