This article is part of our UFC Picks series.
The UFC's middleweight division is, simply put, a mess. To bring it full circle, it's probably best looked at in timeline form:- June 2016 - Michael Bisping defeats Luke Rockhold for the title.
- October 2016 - Michael Bisping makes first title defense against Dan Henderson.
- July 2017 - With Bisping on the shelf due to injury, the UFC creates an interim belt, which is won by Robert Whittaker, who defeated Yoel Romero. Whittaker sustains a serious knee injury during that fight.
- November 2017 - Georges St-Pierre returns to MMA, and defeats Bisping for the middleweight belt. Days later, he vacates the title, and Robert Whittaker is crowned champion.
- December 2017 - Whittaker is booked for a title defense against Luke Rockhold.
- January 2018 - Whittaker withdraws from aforementioned matchup. Rockhold is re-booked against Yoel Romero for another interim title.
So here we are. It all starts and ends with Luke Rockhold, but even after Saturday, we still won't have a true champion. Regardless, there's a promising card with some intriguing underdog bets. Check out how the RotoWire MMA Staff believes it will play out.
If you're looking for a fantasy-specific breakdown of these fights on DraftKings, click here for Jon Litterine's UFC 221 preview.
| MATCHUP | WEIGHT CLASS | JON | EVAN | JAKE |
| Luke Rockhold (-145) vs. Yoel Romero (+135) | Interim Middleweight Championship | Romero | ||
| Curtis Blaydes (-165) vs. Mark Hunt (+145) | Heavyweight | Blaydes | Blaydes | |
| Cyril Asker (+255) vs. Tai Tuivasa (-310) | Heavyweight | Tuivasa | Tuivasa | Tuivasa |
| Jake Matthews (+145) vs. Li Jingliang (-165) | Welterweight | Matthews | Matthews | Matthews |
| Saparbek Safarov (+240) vs. Tyson Pedro (-280) | Light Heavyweight | Pedro | Pedro | Pedro |
| RECORD | 5-0 | 4-1 | 3-2 | |
| OVERALL (since UFC 200) | 65-41 | 60-46 | 66-40 | |
| PERCENTAGE | .613 | .566 | .622 |
| MATCHUP | WEIGHT CLASS | RICHARD | CHRIS |
| Luke Rockhold (-145) vs. Yoel Romero (+135) | Interim Middleweight Championship | Romero | |
| Curtis Blaydes (-165) vs. Mark Hunt (+145) | Heavyweight | Blaydes | |
| Cyril Asker (+255) vs. Tai Tuivasa (-310) | Heavyweight | Tuivasa | |
| Jake Matthews (+145) vs. Li Jingliang (-165) | Welterweight | ||
| Saparbek Safarov (+240) vs. Tyson Pedro (-280) | Light Heavyweight | Pedro | Pedro |
| RECORD | 3-2 | 2-3 | |
| OVERALL (since UFC 200) | 46-31 | 25-21 | |
| PERCENTAGE | .597 | .543 |
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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