In this episode, UFC DFS/betting expert Billy Ward and I preview UFC 275, which is taking place in Singapore.
First, we look at the UFC Light Heavyweight Title fight between Glover Teixeira and Jiří Procházka. Teixeira won the belt by choking out Jan Błachowicz last October. At 42, the Brazilian became the oldest first-time UFC champion. He offers plenty of ground-and-pound with submissions. Meanwhile, Jiri enters enters his third UFC fight as one of the division's most promising stars. With 25 knockouts in his 28 wins, the Czech star offers of knockout power. Despite his lack of UFC experience, Jiri enters this fight as a -200 favorite. While Teixeira enters as the champ, we both like Jiri to win this fights. Billy believes Jiri offers too much power and will knockout the champ. He also wonders if Teixeira has endured too much punishment at this stage of his MMA career. We switch our attention from this fight to a highly anticipated rematch between Weili Zhang and Joanna Jędrzejczyk. Two years ago, Zhang won a classic between these strawweight fighters via split decision. We both offer different explanations for what will happen on Saturday night. I believe someone will be knockout out. Billy believes both women are tough, and this fight will go the distance. Unlike the first fight, this fight will only be three rounds. While Joanna has not fought recently, Zhang has been in the Octagon twice since 2020. Billy also is a little hesitant about using either fighter in a three-round fight and could fade this fight for DFS. The third fight on our card is the UFC Women's Flyweight Championship between Valentina Shevchenko and Taila Santos. Valentina has won her last eight fights since Amanda Nunes beat her in 2017. Santos is coming into this fight with a 19-1 record. While Valentina enters this fight as a monster favorite, we will consider Santos for our cash lineups. If Santos could get 40-50 points, that score could make DFS players winners. Billy is seriously thinking about using both fighters in his cash lineup. This week is the beginning of an important stretch for Billy. He is competing in the first round of the DraftKings $500K Fantasy MMA World Championship. Here, 70 qualifiers start a three-round process to crowning the best MMA DFS player in the world. The top-30 finishers will advance to the next round at UFC 276. The top-10 finishers at next month's NFC PPV event will be flown to Dallas for UFC 277. The winner of that event gets $100,000 and a ticket to the DK Tournament of Champions. We end this episode by talking about optimizers. With Billy working for Fantasy Labs, he explains the FL optimizer and how most DFS players use optimizers in all DFS sports.