This article is part of our UFC Picks series.
Note (2/9): The originally scheduled main event between Kelvin Gastelum and Robert Whittaker was cancelled after Whittaker was forced to withdraw and undergo hernia surgery. That fight will not be picked in this week's picks.The middleweight division gets the spotlight Saturday in Australia, where two esteemed strikers will square off, with Robert Whittaker putting his belt on the line against a winner of two straight in Kelvin Gastelum. The co-main event features another potential title contender at 185 pounds, as Israel "The Last Stylebender" Adesanya will enter as a heavy favorite to take the torch from UFC legend Anderson Silva.
As a reminder, these are purely picks. If you're looking for a fantasy-specific breakdown of these fights on DraftKings, click here for Jon Litterine's UFC 234 preview.
| MATCHUP | WEIGHT CLASS | JON | EVAN | JAKE |
Robert Whittaker (-250) | Championship | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Anderson Silva (+485) vs. Israel Adesanya (-670) | Middleweight | Adesanya | Adesanya | Adesanya |
| Rani Yahya (+105) vs. Ricky Simon (-125) | Bantamweight | |||
| Montana De La Rosa (-265) vs. Nadia Kassem (+225) | Women's Flyweight | De la Rosa | De la Rosa | De la Rosa |
| Jimmy Crute (-140) vs. Sam Alvey (+120) | Light Heavyweight | Crute | ||
| RECORD | 2-2 | 2-2 | 3-1 | |
| OVERALL (since UFC 200) | 97-64 | 88-73 | 101-60 | |
| PERCENTAGE | .602 | .547 | .627 |
| MATCHUP | WEIGHT CLASS | RICHARD | CHRIS |
Robert Whittaker (-250) | Championship | N/A | N/A |
| Anderson Silva (+485) vs. Israel Adesanya (-670) | Middleweight | Adesanya | Adesanya |
| Rani Yahya (+105) vs. Ricky Simon (-125) | Bantamweight | Simon | |
| Montana De La Rosa (-265) vs. Nadia Kassem (+225) | Women's Flyweight | De la Rosa | De la Rosa |
| Jimmy Crute (-140) vs. Sam Alvey (+120) | Light Heavyweight | Crute | Crute |
| RECORD | 3-1 | 4-0 | |
| OVERALL (since UFC 200) | 79-53 | 55-46 | |
| PERCENTAGE | .598 | .545 |
| MATCHUP | WEIGHT CLASS | Joe "SunTszu" | Shaun "DFSniper" |
Robert Whittaker (-250) | Championship | N/A | N/A |
| Anderson Silva (+485) vs. Israel Adesanya (-670) | Middleweight | Adesanya | Adesanya |
| Rani Yahya (+105) vs. Ricky Simon (-125) | Bantamweight | Simon | |
| Montana De La Rosa (-265) vs. Nadia Kassem (+225) | Women's Flyweight | De la Rosa | De la Rosa |
| Jimmy Crute (-140) vs. Sam Alvey (+120) | Light Heavyweight | Crute | |
| RECORD | 3-1 | 3-1 | |
| OVERALL (since UFC 200) | 30-20 | 33-17 | |
| PERCENTAGE | .600 | .660 |
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: 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 @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 7th 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!
