UFC Fight Night 63 will take place today from the Patriot Center in Fairfax, Virginia and the fight card will begin at 11 a.m. ET/8 a.m. PT on Fox Sports 1.
The event will be headlined by a top featherweight bout between former title challengers as Chad Mendes steps back into the cage for the first time since losing to Jose Aldo at UFC 179 and will meet Ricardo Lamas.
Take a look at my Draft Kings preview and recommended lineup for today’s event.
(For those that are unfamiliar with the Draft Kings format of daily MMA betting: with a cap of $50,000, the objective is to select 5 fighters – who have been allotted prices – to produce as many points as possible. The rules on how points are scored by a particular fighter can be found on the bottom of this article.)
Dustin Poirier ($10,100) vs Carlos Diego Ferreira
Getting blasted by Conor McGregor really hurt Poirier’s perception, but I like the value here against Ferreira. Poirier is a diverse fighter that has shown the ability to consistently finish fights. Although I like the upside that Ferreira showed in his Legacy Fighting run and his first two UFC fights, I think he drops two in a row here.
Chad Mendes ($11,300) vs Ricardo Lamas
It’s tough picking against Lamas in any fight given how tough and talented that he is. Still, in a card that doesn’t have many likely finishes, I’ll go with the favorite in Chad Mendes whose in the top tier of featherweights behind the champion and should bounce back after the loss to Jose Aldo.
Julianna Pena ($10,500) vs Milana Dudieva
Picking a fighter that’s been a long lay-off like Julianna Pena shouldn’t inspire much confidence, but she’s one of the few fighters on this card that I expect to get a finish. Pena’s best days are clearly ahead of her, and those days should start with her return against Dudieva.
Mitch Clarke ($8,400) vs Michael Chiesa
While Clarke’s another fighter coming off a long lay-off, there’s real value here with him being an underdog. Chiesa should be the favorite in this one, but the line is a bit too long for my liking. Under the assumption that Clarke returns to the form that he showed in his last two fights, he should be able to pull off the upset.
Al Iaquinta ($9,500) vs Jorge Masvidal
With the remaining salary that’s left, the smartest allocation of said salary is to Iaquinta who has turned a corner since being submitted by Clarke. Masvidal is a tough opponent for Iaquinta, but even if Iaquinta doesn’t get the finish here, he should piece together a lot of landed strikes in what will probably be a fight that goes to the judges.
Draft King’s MMA Scoring System
1st Round Win: 100 points
2nd Round Win: 70 points
3rd Round Win: 50 points
4th Round Win: 40 points
5th Round Win: 40 points
Decision Win: 25 points
Significant Strikes: 0.5 points
Advances: 1 point
Takedowns: 2 points
Reversal/Sweeps: 2 points
Knockdowns: 3 points
