BIG MARLEY’S UFC ON ESPN+8 DRAFTKINGS FANTASY BREAKDOWN
This weekend, we’ve got a 13-fight card at Florida. DraftKings has some solid contests for us to win a lot of money from this week. The most important GPP is a $15 buy-in and $25k belongs to 1st place with a total of $120k being paid out. They also have a new Qualifier only competition for $175,000. There will be 100 qualifiers for that competition and they will compete for a $50k first location cost and $175k will be spread out between all 100 entries that match. I will try to receive my 2nd seat this week if possible. Those Qualifier only contests can be real bankroll suckers, so be cautious chasing those overly hard. I will probably stick to the top GPP this week and throw 50-100 entries at the $25k decoration, and then I will probably have a few shots in the Q. I will also be publishing H2Hs as well as picking up H2Hs throughout the week to get a fantastic amount of play into cash games.
With that said, let’s get into a couple plays I like this week Together with my fade of this week:
Cash Game play of this week — Roosevelt Roberts — $9,500
I expect Roberts to be the much better fighter anywhere this battle goes. I believe Gifford’s best shot at a win will be gearing up a guillotine. Other than that, I believe we have a fairly safe win here using Roberts and that’s precisely what I am searching for. I need the wins that are safer in money and that I can worry about who’s going to score the greatest in GPPs. I believe we can eliminate him at the GPPs in his price because when he puts up 90 DK points in a win then that won’t win 25k. It helps us win in money games though and I would be surprised if he had a low scoring win here. I believe he’s good for 80-100 points here and I’m totally ok with that in my money lineup.
GPP drama of this week — Greg Hardy- $9,300
Hardy is my GPP play of the week and he has the highest ITD odds on the card at -222. This is a set up fight for him to receive a knockout and I believe that is most likely going to happen in the very first round. That should put Hardy over 100 things and I am interested in that. Hardy is going to be one of my best plays of the week, but he is GPP only for me personally. We can’t trust him sufficient for cash games, so that is the reason why I like Roberts longer in that arrangement. I really do think Hardy can outscore Roberts though if they win, and he is $200 cheaper. That could knock Roberts off the very best lineup and even with higher ownership we could win that $25k with Hardy in our lineup so long as he receives the first KO. Hardy wins in round 1 is lined at -130 and that’s too good for me to pass on in GPPs.
Underdog drama of the week — Glover Teixeira — $7,900
Teixeira is no longer the underdog on the betting line (-120) however DraftKings salaries don’t change once they are released. We receive Teixeira here for 400 cheaper than Cutelaba and he’s preferred to get the win. I also think he can win in the 1st round with a score and submission over 90 points. That would give him a good shot at being to the perfect lineup. I will be targeting both sides of the struggle in GPPs since I do not expect it to move all 3 rounds, but value on Teixeira is exactly what I enjoy the most and we have to own”underdogs” in our DK lineups together with the $50k salary cap. I think the clear path to success for Glover is to the floor and that is what I anticipate his game must be. I enjoy him to find a submission win if he is able to land takedowns and he will be among my highest owned underdogs this week.
Fade of the week — Carla Esparza ($8,200)
I know people were expecting me to place Angela Hill as my fade at $9.4k. She’s a strong fade too… But I am going with Esparza as my fade this week and I have zero lineups including her. In general, Esparza is a decent wrestler and we enjoy wrestlers in DraftKings. I just don’t see wrestling in her best interest against Jandiroba and that I think she uses her wrestling in defense to attempt to keep this fight on the feet. Each of the threat is on the ground in this matchup and Carla gets the boxing of both. I think she could acquire a 30-27 striking decision but that won’t score highly, and I would guess it puts up around ~60 DK points. That is not going to reduce it at $8.2k so I just don’t see how she ends up on the 25k lineup this week even if she does win, and that’s why she is my fade of the week.
Thanks for reading this and decent luck this weekend! If you would like my full-card breakdown where I breakdown every fight on the card and provide my complete DraftKings evaluation, as well as all of my pick predictions, then you can find that for only $7.99 at this link below:
(Premium bets are available at that link as well. I’m 69-44 to get +224.83un (+$22,483) since May 19th, 2018 on Premium Plays)