RADIO
Barely three weeks and just 22 days for the first numbered UFC event of the year? One which will even feature two title fights, including a unification one!? Color me excited and pencil me in for the watching folks! We have a couple of unstoppable heavyweight forces going against each other and the two best lowest-weight-tier fighters at it expected to pop up in Anaheim come Saturday and, given how the whole COVID thing is going and hitting the nation and the world, it's not that we can complain but instead sit tight and enjoy a night most probably full of highlights.
The night will close with the bout between reigning HW Champ Ngannou defending his belt against aspiring Champ (now just Interim, whatever that's worth to your eyes) Gane. Not a joke, this fight, with two absolute trains going against each other at light speed. Before that, two more ridiculous fighters will enter the Octagon at the lowest possible weight in Moreno (C) and Figueiredo in a third re-do for what could be the revenge of the Brazilian or the true confirmation of the Mexican as bona fide superstar. Bring in the fireworks, cause we're getting anxious already.
In this article, I will be providing you with my fantasy MMA lineup picks for UFC 270: Ngannou vs. Gane on 01/22/22. Give me a follow on Twitter @chapulana. Good luck!
DraftKings MMA Heavyweight - UFC DFS Lineup Picks
Francis Ngannou (C), $7800 - vs. Ciryl Gane (IC)
Can we consider this a French War? Francis Ngannou was born in Cameroon but got the Euro nationality and will be defending his title against French IC Cyril Gane, so it makes sense. After he refused to defend his belt in August, Ngannou seems to finally be ready (?) to do so. It took Francis a couple of shots (he flopped against Miocic back in Jan. 2018) but lifted the HW title last March KO'ing his early foe in the second round. It's been five KOs in a row for Ngannou, who has not lost a fight since July of 2018.
Gane was the man put in that IC fight against Derrick Lewis making up for Ngannou's absence, and oh boy did he take full advantage of the chance. KO in three rounds and a chance at the real gold for Gane this weekend. Not bad. The French, by the way, has a perfect 7-0 record in the UFC while he's done in all types of ways: two KOs, two subs, and three decisions; all of them from Aug. 2019 on! Ngannou is the underdog on this one, but Gane (while deserving of the shot) just lucked into this fight a bit. Ngannou might really be a little bit rusty, but it's not that he needs many more than 10 SS to finish opponents. Give me the reigning champ on this one.
DraftKings MMA Flyweight - UFC DFS Lineup Picks
Deiveson Figueiredo, $7700 - vs. Brandon Moreno (C)
These two men combine for six appearances in title fights. I know, I know, the last two from each side were on bouts against one another, but that doesn't take from the high levels of talent those two will bring to the Octagon come Saturday. Figueiredo, after a successful (?) defense of the belt the first time he faced Moreno (that one ended in a Draw, mind you), went on to face Moreno for a second time last June... and dropped the belt after getting subbed in the third round.
Moreno outperformed Figueiredo in the second fight and ultimately got the early-finish victory, thus becoming FW Champ for the first time in his career. The first outing was close as hell, with both fighters putting up eerily similar numbers all across the board: Moreno finished 132/248 in SSL/SSA, and landed 4-of-8 TDs; Figueiredo sat at 137/238 with a 2-for-4. The last time we saw these two go against each other just a little over a half year ago, Morenow was the better fighter. Not by an otherworldly margin, but still. Will that change on Saturday? I'm not sure, but Deiveson's run before the D & L against Moreno speaks volumes of how much of a threat he is: three submissions and a KO from Oct. 2010 adorn his recent resume. I'm banking on Figueiredo getting the belt back and setting up a final fight against Moreno down the road to crown the true champ after going 1-1-1.
DraftKings MMA Welterweight - UFC DFS Lineup Picks
André Fialho, $7100 - vs. Michel Pereira
Fialho is a noname fighter in the UFC. That's right, and just a fact I'm pointing out. He's coming from the UAE Warriors promo and he put up a 3-0 record in there while being a career 14-3 MMA fighter as a pro. Not only is Fialho a winning fighter, but also a true menace with 11 of his 14 victories coming via KO, which is absolutely insane at a 79% finish rate that doesn't even take into account the lone submission he's only won a fight with. In his last four outings, all of them taking place in 2021, he never went past the 7:21 minute mark before finishing his opponents, including an ongoing three first-round KOs streak.
Michel Pereira has six fights under the UFC banner and is boasting a 4-2 record--that includes a DQ (illegal knee) in his third fight as a pro. He debuted with a 1:47 minutes KO, dropped a couple, subbed a foe, and most recently won a couple of judges' decisions. Pereira is legit when it comes to the ground game and has gone 6-of-10 on takedowns with at least 2 successful takedowns to his name in the past two fights he's been part of. The striking volume isn't great, but the landing rates are quite nice. Pereira is on an ascending path since he got DQ'd in Feb. 2020. Fialho is jumping promos and fighting at the largest possible stage for the first time in his career and although he's just 27 he's no freshman at this MMA thing. Fialho has been so impossibly demolishing as of late that I have to side with the newcomer.
DraftKings MMA Bantamweight - UFC DFS Lineup Picks
Said Nurmagomedov, $8600 - vs. Cody Stamann
If you ask me, and as harsh as it sounds, it looks like Stamann reached his peak at some point through 2019 and has now entered a decline or at least some sort of regression. He put together three consecutive Ws to debut in the UFC going for a fantastic average of 165 SSA per fight while landing 12 of 18 attempted takedowns (including an 8-of-12 in his debut). After that, though, he is 12-of-36 in the takedown department (not bad, but surely when compared to his early run), and has topped that 165 SSA average just once while landing an average of 44 of those attempts (compared to 85 in his first UFC fights). He's on a two-fight losing streak with a W and a Draw on top of that (in mid-2020 and late 2019).
Said Nurmagomedov, on the other hand, is 3-1 since 2018 and although he's not been the most active of fighters, he's still good for what he's done. Said, though, has been off the Octagon since Oct. 2020, which is now 14 months in our rearview mirrors. He dropped his foe back then in just 51 seconds, and prior to that he got another W via KO in just 2:28 minutes. He sandwiched a loss between those two victories in a fight that came down to the judges' decision, but overall he's been able to put out good numbers every time he's entered the Octagon. He's either KO'd foes or reached 55+ SSL while attempting 113+ of them. If this was pre-2019 Stamann vs. Nurmagomedov, I'd go with the former all day. That's not the case, though, so I'm picking Said Nurmagomedov to get the W.
