This Sunday, January 18th, the UFC will be hosting an event in Boston, Massachusetts. This card will feature one of the UFC’s fastest rising stars in Conor McGregor. This Irish prospect is taking on Dennis Siver, a German looking to derail McGregor’s hype train. As this card approaches, a great way to get involved in these fights is to play Daily Fantasy MMA over at DraftKings. I’m here to give you some lineup advice for this highly anticipated card. Here are some details for the MMA contests this weekend:
 Sign up for DraftKings to play fantasy MMA
-$25,000 prize pool.
– First place wins $2,000
– $2 entry fee (FREE with first deposit).
– Top 3,000 are paid.​
– Starts on Sunday, January 18th at 6:00 PM
– Salary Cap Style Drafting. $50,000 to select 5 fighters
– First time depositors at DraftKings receive a 100% bonus up to $600​
Fighters to stay away from: Siver, Stallings (Taylor), Tibau, Lipeng, Howell
Siver, Stallings (stepping in for the injured Taylor), and Lipeng are all bad matchups for their respected opponents. McGregor is fully expected to run through Siver and showcase his readiness for a title shot. Stallings is stepping up on very short notice to fight Uriah Hall. Hall is an outstanding and dangerous striker. He has a great blend of speed and power and I’m afraid it will all be just too much for the short-notice fighter, Stallings. Lipeng is fighting a potential prospect in Chris Wade, and Lipeng’s skill just don’t stand out.
Howell has an unimpressive record of 13-8 with 5 of his losses coming by way of submission. With that said, Howell’s opponent (Holohan) has good submissions skills and has already displayed those skills inside the Octagon. Balance of probability suggests that Howell will get submitted in this fight.
Tibau is a bad choice for a couple of reasons. First, Tibau has a high decision percentage. Almost 50% of his fights go to a decision. He’s not exactly a fighter that will rack up a lot of fantasy points, even if he secures the victory. Second, Tibau has a lot of mileage on his body. He’s approaching the late stage of his career and he has been fighting for a long time. Fighting for so long with the combination of his aging, Tibau is not guaranteed the win in this fight. I look for Parke to upset him.
Fighters with good values: McGregor, Cerrone, Hall, Wade, Holohan
McGregor and Hall are expected to run through their respected opponents. McGregor is a rising star with ridiculous striking ability and a very difficult style to prepare for. Being priced at $12,700, McGregor is by far the most expensive fighter that can be selected. I believe he’ll get the KO in the first or second round. Either way, if you choose to put him in your lineup, be prepared to choose some underdogs, as McGregor will eat up most of your cap space. Hall is priced at $12,000 and I expect him to get the early KO as well. He might be the first choice, since he will provide more cap space.
Wade and Holohan should also be able to finish their opponents. Wade is a potential prospect who outmatches his opponent in almost every area of the game. I look for Wade to get the finish in the second or the third. Holohan has good submissions and his opponent (Howell) has five submission losses in his career. Holohan should be able to submit his opponent with nearly no problems.
Cerrone is fighting for his second time in just fifteen days. His opponent, Henderson, was able to beat him twice in the WEC. However, those fights were long ago and both fighters are now completely different. I believe that Cerrone has improved enough to beat Henderson this time. Henderson has displayed an obvious decline in his game, while Cerrone has been very active and been nothing short of spectacular. As long as Cerrone can find his range early and not allow Henderson to pressure him against the cage, this should be a decisive win for Cerrone.
Risky fighters: Pendred, Howard, Larkin, Case, Perez, Rosa, Soriano
Each of these fighters are involved in a fight that is considered a very close matchup. You cannot count on any of these guys winning or getting a finish. In fact, most of these fighters have a relatively high decision percentage. Pendred is a good underdog to pick, however, his chin is very much a liability. If his opponent can land cleanly, it can be a very short night for Pendred.
With all that said, Sunday night is full of very close matchups. You may have to play around with your lineup for a bit to find the perfect setup. A good lineup example could be as follows:
Cerrone —Â $ 9,500
Parke    — $ 9,700
Howard —Â $ 9,400
Case    — $ 10,900
Rosa     — $ 10,500
OR
Cerrone — $9,500
Hall        — $ 12,000
Parke     — $ 9,700
Pendred — $ 9,300
Howard — $ 9,400
As I’ve stated before, there are a lot of close matchups on this fight card, and you may need to play around with your lineup until you get a set that looks promising. I hope this article helps. Enjoy the fights Sunday night.
Be sure to follow me on Twitter: @BigWillyHamp
