This article is part of our UFC Picks series.
Here's to hoping this card stays in tact after only two of the original five fights made it to the last pay-per-view at UFC 223. With the likelihood of Conor McGregor finding his way to Rio de Janeiro very low, fight fans will be treated to a main card that has a little bit of something for everyone. Amanda Nunes will look to continue a dominant reign as champion against Raquel Pennington, who is riding an impressive four-fight winning streak. A bid for the top contenders in both the middleweight and bantamweight divisions could be earned, while promising prospect Mackenzie Dern finally gets her shot under the bright lights. Kicking things off is a legend vs. legend matchup between Brazilians Lyoto Machida and Vitor Belfort -- two fighters with nearly 50 professional victories between them.If you're looking for a fantasy-specific breakdown of these fights on DraftKings, click here for Jon Litterine's UFC 224 preview.
| MATCHUP | WEIGHT CLASS | JON | EVAN | JAKE |
| Amanda Nunes (-1000) vs. Raquel Pennington (+650) | Women's Bantamweight Championship | Nunes | Nunes | Nunes |
| Kelvin Gastelum (+125) vs. Jacare Souza (-145) | Middleweight | Gastelum | ||
| Amanda Cooper (+210) vs. Mackenzie Dern (-250) | Women's Strawweight | Dern | Dern | Dern |
| Brian Kelleher (+210) vs. John Lineker (-250) | Bantamweight | Lineker | Lineker | Lineker |
| Lyoto Machida (-275) vs. Vitor Belfort (+235) | Middleweight | Machida | Machida | |
| RECORD | 5-0 | 4-1 | 3-2 | |
| OVERALL (since UFC 200) | 72-46 | 65-53 | 72-46 | |
| PERCENTAGE | .610 | .551 | .610 |
| MATCHUP | WEIGHT CLASS | RICHARD | CHRIS |
| Amanda Nunes (-1000) vs. Raquel Pennington (+650) | Women's Bantamweight Championship | Nunes | Nunes |
| Kelvin Gastelum (+125) vs. Jacare Souza (-145) | Middleweight | ||
| Amanda Cooper (+210) vs. Mackenzie Dern (-250) | Women's Strawweight | Dern | |
| Brian Kelleher (+210) vs. John Lineker (-250) | Bantamweight | Lineker | |
| Lyoto Machida (-275) vs. Vitor Belfort (+235) | Middleweight | Machida | |
| RECORD | 4-1 | 2-3 | |
| OVERALL (since UFC 200) | 51-38 | 30-28 | |
| PERCENTAGE | .573 | .517 |
| MATCHUP | WEIGHT CLASS | Joe "SunTszu" | DFSSniper |
| Amanda Nunes (-1000) vs. Raquel Pennington (+650) | Women's Bantamweight Championship | Nunes | Nunes |
| Kelvin Gastelum (+125) vs. Jacare Souza (-145) | Middleweight | Gastelum | |
| Amanda Cooper (+210) vs. Mackenzie Dern (-250) | Women's Strawweight | Dern | Dern |
| Brian Kelleher (+210) vs. John Lineker (-250) | Bantamweight | Lineker | Lineker |
| Lyoto Machida (-275) vs. Vitor Belfort (+235) | Middleweight | Machida | Machida |
| RECORD | 5-0 | 4-1 | |
| OVERALL (since UFC 200) | 6-1 | 5-2 | |
| PERCENTAGE | .857 | .714 |
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!
