Twelve fights are on the slate for UFC Fight Night Des Moines, with title contenders Corey Sandhagen and Davison Figueiredo headlining the card. There’s a few really interesting matchups including the co-main with Bo Nickal vs Reinier de Ridder. We will of course have a handful of lesser known fighters, but lately those seem to bring the best out of everyone and give us entertaining fights.
For anyone who hasn’t read this article before, this series will be released every week on Wednesday and will cover the slate by isolating the fighters that I like within the various salary groups. Please be aware that these plays are subject to change as the week goes on. You can unlock my Saturday Morning Slate Sleuth article that contains my exact plays, and access to the entire suite of DraftKings DFS tools available with Premium Membership – Click Here To Join – Use code ‘ADP’ for 10% off your first month!
$9,000+ PRICE POINT
CORY SANDHAGEN
Sandman just is better everywhere in this fight. He averages over 5 significant strikes per minute, has shown the ability to take strikers to the ground and win with his grappling, and I think we see him cement his status as a title contender here. Averaging over 100+ DK points in his last 5 wins.
GILLIAN ROBERTSON
Gillian is going to drag Marina to the mat and rack up control time and takedowns and look to finish this inside the distance. She is averaging over 102 DK points in her last 5 wins and most people won’t want to roster an expensive female fighter due to being burned by others in similar spots.
$8,000 – $8,900 PRICE POINT
MONTEL JACKSON
Montel is a fun fighter to watch, he averages over a takedown per round, has a 6 inch reach advantage and will be looking to take the 0 from Marcos’ undefeated record. Marcos has good takedown defense but he has not fought someone with Jackson’s takedown prowess. He scores big boy DK points in his wins with a few over 120.
SANTIAGO PONZINIBBIO
D-Rod has looked awful lately and I’m going to side with the guy in Ponzinibbio who looked solid against Harris and gets his wins from KO/TKO when he wins. This isn’t a slam dunk play, but gotta go with what DK gives us in salary plays.
Under $8,000 PRICE POINT
DON’TALE MAYES
This is a matchup of Mayes wanting to stand and trade vs Petersen who will look to wrestle. We have seen when Thomas can’t get takedowns he gets knocked out, and with Mayes having a 7 inch reach advantage we will hope he keeps Petersen at distance and pieces him up en route to a KO.
REINER DE RIDDER
Nickal is a monster prospect who looked dreadful against Paul Craig, and RDR is a former champ from his previous organization who has scored over 110 in each of his ufc fights en route to submission wins. In a fight like this, I am going to side with the more experienced fighter who has fought higher level competition.
CHECK OUT ADP DFS FOR MORE
If you are interested in playing DFS for other sports, you would probably also enjoy the content that I provide on my website www.adpdfs.com. We have an entire team of DFS professionals that cover most major sports and do so from a data drive perspective that has us enjoying green screens week in and week out. Hope to see you over there!
