UFC Picks: UFC 223

This article is part of our UFC Picks series.

Edit (4/6): With the main event not as originally planned (Max Holloway unfit to fit), and the Chiesa/Pettis fight not moving forward as anticipated, we will only be picking three fights for the UFC223 card on Saturday.

It was supposed to be Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Tony Ferguson. We were six days away. Finally, fight fans were going to find out who the best lightweight in the world was. But for the fourth time in as many attempts, the fight fell through. It seems this fight is just cursed, as the culprit this time was Ferguson tripping in a parking lot and suffering a lower leg injury that deemed him unfit to fight. Though an excellent fight was scrapped yet again, current featherweight champion Max Holloway stepped in on short notice, looking to become just the second fighter in history to hold two division's belts simultaneously. The odds are stacked against him (+375), but the opportunity was simply too good to pass up. The two will now throw down in arguably the best main event of 2018, with another title fight -- a rematch between Rose Namjunas and Joanna Jedrzejczyk for the strawweight belt -- in line to set the stage.

If you're looking for a fantasy-specific breakdown of these fights on DraftKings, click here for Jon Litterine's UFC 223 preview.

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 and WatchStadium contributor. Host of the RotoWire MMA Podcast and guest on the RotoWire Fantasy Football Podcast. Follow him on Twitter at @JakeSki52.
Richard Mann: Richard is a stats-based analyst that has appeared on ESPN MMA via Fightmetric. He is the primary Bellator recap writer and handles event recaps in our Fight Stat Wrap column. Follow him on Twitter at @RichardAMann.
Chris Olson: Contributor at RotoWire to "Fight IQ, presented by RotoWire," as well as DFS Baseball, and MMA 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 13th 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.

Disagree with these picks? Let your opinion be heard in the comments!