UFC Fight Island is upon us (or UFSea, if you rather)! The UFC invades Yas Island in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates this weekend with a stacked fight card, topped off with three title fights! Add in the fact that fan favorite Jorge Masvidal is a last minute replacement in the main event welterweight title fight, and you’ve got yourself a must-see event.
To make the viewing experience on Saturday more exciting, let’s draft ourselves a winning UFC 251 DraftKings team, shall we?
Karol Rosa – $9,200
We start things off with Karol Rosa, at a big price tag of $9,200. However, she is the top average fantasy point earner on the card, averaging 125.5 FPPF, so it’s money well spent. That’s due to her landing a whopping 171 significant strikes and a knockdown in her octagon debut. She’ll be going up against a fighter on Saturday – Vanessa Melo – who is 0-2 in her UFC career, so it’ll be another good chance to rack up the points.
Zhalgas Zhamagulov – $7,500
I like the UFC flyweight newcomer Zhalgas Zhamagulov as a live betting dog, so I really like him for only $7,500 on DraftKings. He’s a fighter relying on relentless forward pressure, and also finishes over half of his fights (seven of 13 wins), which is impressive for a 125-pounder. Add in his extensive resume, including wins over former UFC fighters, and you’ve got yourself a quality pickup.
Davey Grant – $7,700
I’ll pick another underdog here, at only $7,700, in Davey Grant. ‘Dangerous’ landed six takedowns in his last fight, a win over Grigory Popov, and got 86 points for his owners. He’ll be fighting Martin Day on Saturday, a fighter who hasn’t competed since November 2018, and looks to have wrestling and grappling holes in his game.
Kamaru Usman – $8,900
We jump back to the main event and pick up Kamaru Usman with our next purchase. Usman averages a very strong 113.1 fantasy points per fight, and he faces a very favorable matchup on Saturday night in Jorge Masvidal. While ‘Street Jesus’ has the power to end the fight at any moment, Usman’s wrestling should dictate where the fight takes place. Look for ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ to use his size, strength, and high-level wrestling to take this fight to the ground, where he’ll do his damage.
Makwan Amirkhani – $8,600
I’ll take Mr. Finland, Makwan Amirkhani, at $8,600 win my penultimate (nice word, eh?) pick. Amirkhani is a great MMA wrestler and submission wizard, earning 10 of his 15 wins very tapping out his opponent. His adversary on Saturday, Danny Henry, just got submitted in his last fight, so he’s ripe for the picking here.
Jiri Prochazka – $7,800
The debuting Czech light heavyweight Jiri Prochazka is our last pickup, leaving us $300 to spare. He is a knockout machine, ending 23 of his 26 wins via (T)KO. And this isn’t against low-level competition – his last four victims are C.B. Dolloway, Fabio Maldonado, ‘King Mo’ Muhammad Lawal, and Brandon Halsey – all fighters with big league experience. While his opponent on Saturday, Volkan Oezdemir, is no slouch (he did challenge for the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship two years ago), it’s worth spending $7,800 on a fighter with this much power. We hope.
