We have reached the final event of the year here for 2025 with a fight night headlined by Brandon Royval vs Manel Kape. This card is stacked full of people who are making their debuts and fighters who are not very well known. Usually this makes for a fun card top to bottom, so hopefully that is the case this week and we end 2025 with a bunch of fun fights. We even got King Green added mid week to this card against someone making their debut to get us a 13th fight on the card.
Without further delay, let’s get going on our Saturday morning UFC Vegas 112 slate sleuthing. In this article I will be identifying some of my favorite plays on the slate and will split them up into different categories. Let’s crush this event together!
TOP PLAYS
These plays are the higher owned fighters on the slate that I believe have a good chance to meet or exceed their value. These plays should be great to use for your low risk contests such as double-ups, 50/50’s, and small-field single entry contests. They should also make a nice core to build around for your multiple-entry contests.
Manel Kape | $9200 | -255 | 39%
I hate this pick because I do not like Kape at all, and I like Royval, but Kape is the favorite and has the KO upside here. Royval can be chinny at times, and we saw Van almost get the finish at the end of his last fight. Kape averages over 5 significant strikes per minute, is probably the fastest striker in the division, and has the fresh legs from withdrawing from 75% of his fights since joining the UFC. Kape via TKO incoming
Joanderson Brito | $9000 | -300 | 26%
Not far removed from a 5 fight win streak that were all wins by finish, and now he gets a kid making his debut on short notice. Brito will wrestle when he need to, will look for submissions, or can touch the chin and turn the lights out on the feet. So many ways for him to win here, and will be mid tier for ownership.
Gillian Robertson | $8800 | -185 | 29%
Lemos looks like she is on her way out, and Robertson has looked like she is gearing up to make a run for a title shot lately. She has won 6 of her last 7 fights and her lowest DraftKings score there in a win was 95.8 points. She probably has the highest scoring upside on the slate due to her wrestling. Gillian has scored over 100 DK points in her last 4 fights, with 2 finishes and 2 decisions while mixing in 11 takedowns over that time and averaging over 8 minutes of control time per fight.
GPP PIVOTS
These plays are the fighters that I think have potential to give you leverage over the field in your large-field tournaments and mass multiple-entry contests. They are best used as pivots from similarly priced, more heavily owned fighters. If they win, you then have leverage over the field.
Cezary Oleksiejczuk | $8700 | -205 | 27%
I think we will see Cezary shoot a takedown or two here, as Almeida is a world class kickboxer who every single UFC opponent he has had, has decided to try and shoot a takedown to stop standing and trading with him. Ole has big power just like his brother, is 12 years younger with a slight height and reach advantage also. Give me the younger, hungry baby bro of michael O here to win his debut with a finish.
Steven Asplund | $8900 | -205 | 39%
Asplund is one of the more chalky plays this week, but I also think Sharaf is in play for DFS. This fight is the biggest favorite to finish inside the distance on this card, and I think you can’t go wrong either way you pick it depending on your builds and who needs to be plugged in. Aspland is younger, taller, bigger reach and coming off a 16 second KO on DWCS. He has a great backstory and is the favorite for a reason, but in lineups where you need a cheap dog it is fine to go with Sharaf as the big boys have the 1 punch KO ability a lot of other weight classes don’t have.
King Green | $9000 | -230 | 29%
Short notice catchweight fight here, and we get King Green vs a guy making his debut. Green averages landing 6.4 significant strikes per minute, gets a takedown per fight, and this time around he is not being fed to a up and coming rockstar like the was with Paddy and then Ruffy in his last two losses. I do think if he loses, we may not see him on the roster in 2026, so he very well could come push the pace even harder trying to show uncle Dana he still has it so he can get the big bucks with a raise from the paramount deal.
LIVE DOGS
Due to the salary based nature of DraftKings daily fantasy, you will need an underdog or two in your lineup. Below you will find my favorite underdog plays on the slate along with the contest types that I prefer them for. These fighters are supposed to lose based on the betting odds, but have a better chance of providing value in my opinion than their salary suggests.
Morgan Charriere | $8000 | -115 | 24%
This is a very good real life fight, and I think Morgan will be the better wrestler here so that makes him a solid underdog pick for DFS purposes. They are nearly identical in their stats, Costa is slightly taller and a 2 inch reach advantage, but Charriere has the better takedown defense and throws more volume on the feet so he is my pick here.
Melissa Croden | $7700 | +105 | 22%
Croden showed last time out she will push the pace continuously, and now we get her as a dog against someone who she averages more takedowns than, 3 more significant strikes per minute, and is the taller/bigger fighter here. She had 99 significant strikes, 2 takedowns and a reversal in her UFC debut last time out and found a third round TKO finish en route to scoring 123 points on DK.
Sean Sharaf | $7300 | +175 | 17%
See Asplund write up.
FADES
One of the most important parts of multiple-entry lineup construction is reducing the number of “bad” lineups that you enter. To achieve this you will want to remove some fighters from consideration, or at least come in significantly under the field on those fighters. Below you will find the fighters that I will be fading from my lineups.
Yaroslav Amosov | 9400 | -400 | 27%
Magny is just such a tough opponent for someone making their debut. Yes she was the Bellator champ, and Magny is a gate keeper, but Neil has found a way to beat almost everyone he has faced who isn’t a complete stud in the division.
Kennedy Nzechkwu | $8400 | -125 | 26%
Striker vs Grappler here, and if Bucheca can get him down it is probably over for Kennedy. He is a bit light for a heavyweight coming in around 240, but he has an 83 inch reach still. I feel like if he does not get a KO in the first two rounds, he does not pay off his salary in a win where Bucheva will be wrestling and looking for a submission.
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