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Chris Meaney
Bettings
The UFC heads to Anaheim this weekend for UFC 298, featuring a featherweight clash between undefeated contender Ilia Topuria and the reigning king Alexander Volkanovski. Topuria is currently undefeated at 14-0 and looking to collect gold this weekend. However, he has an arduous task ahead of him as Volkanovski is also an undefeated featherweight who has sent every challenger packing so far. Volk is coming off a surprising knockout loss to Islam Makhachev, while Topuria is coming off a dominating win over Josh Emmett. It was the second time in six fights that Topuria has gone the distance, and this will be his second time going five rounds in the UFC.
Another treat on the main card is the co-main event between Robert Whittaker and Paulo Costa, who has been out of the octagon for nearly two years now. Costa’s last fight was against Luke Rockhold, which he won after a slugfest. Whittaker seeks redemption after a surprising loss to the new Champ, Dricus Du Plessis. Also on the card is the return of triple C, Henry Cejudo, as he takes on the Merab Dvalishvili after losing to his teammate, former champion Aljomain Sterling. Merab has been on a tear and sits on a nine-fight win streak. With a win this weekend, he extends to ten wins and should put himself in position for a title shot.
There are five fights on the main card and 12 overall. I’ve listed below the best lineup for your DFS contests this weekend.
Kopylov is my dog of the week. He has a 92% takedown defense and is a far better striker in this matchup. Fluffy will grapple early and often as he attempts nearly seven takedowns per fight. But if Fluffy can’t get his takedowns going and is forced to stand and bang, I can’t see this being a good night for Fluffy. I can see it going the same way it went against Holland. Holland was able to negate the initial takedowns and land power, which is the same thing I expect Kopylov to do.
Volk is king until proven otherwise. One of the issues I have with Topuria is that while he has a lot of power, that same power often leaves him overextending himself. If he does that frequently, I can see him getting dropped by Volkanovski, who is a masterful counter-striker. Topurias’s best chance at winning outright is early on in the fight. The deeper it goes, the more likely he gasses out, becomes one-dimensional and gets rolled. It also helps that Volk averages over 100 DK points per fight.
Andrea Lee may not win the fight, but she will do enough to Maverick to pull an upset if she can keep her back off the ground and chip away at Miranda from a distance. I’d stay away from Lee in GPP, but for the cash lineups, she’s suitable for the salary, which frees up room for the higher-priced fighters. Even in losses, she has averaged 70 DK points, so win or lose, as long as Lee doesn’t get finished, we should be alright.
Merab gets his chance to fight Triple C after his teammate Aljamain Sterling beat him last year in Newark. Merab has a significant height and reach advantage coming into this fight, and in my opinion, in everything that Henry does at this point in his career, merab can do better. It’s always tough to gain momentum when you jump out of retirement, and truthfully, I don’t think this matchup will gain momentum for Cejudo. Henry already has a leg out of the game, and as Dana White says, if you are even thinking about retirement, you shouldn’t be fighting.
If Ian Garry can stay clear of the devastating power from Neal, I don’t see this being much of a problem for Garry. Neal doesn’t wrestle, and historically Garrys toughest fights are against grapplers and Neal is also at a height and reach disadvantage. Neal will come out Hot, but I’m confident Garry can maintain his distance and pick Neal apart.
Whittaker losing to Dricus was perhaps the best thing to happen to his career. He was in a weird place prior to that fight where he wasn’t sure about his future in the UFC. Now more motivated than ever a test like Costa is perfect for a number of reasons. For one it’ll test his durability because Costa will inevitably land and everything, he lands is usually devastating. So, if Whittaker can withstand the power, I’d say this fight looks like the Adesanya vs Costa fight where the more technical fighter will shine brighter.
