Allan Fabrykant 
UFC 284
MAKACHEV V VOLKANOVSKI
We are taking you to the land down under for tonight’s UFC action. Despite being so far away, the fights will kick off at 6:00 PM ET. Read more below to find out my takes on tonight’s matchups! Tonight there will be 13 fights that will end with two title fights for the lightweight and featherweight straps. Now, with all that out of the way, let’s get right into the action!
SLATE STARTS AT 6:00 PM ET
Exposure to the main event is recommended. DFS production in these fights is usually high as they are five-round fights. I do not recommend branching away from the Main Event, as these fighters are both very active and can rack up a lot of points. There will be three top plays followed by honorable mentions. Now let’s get ready to make some money!
Tonight I’m here to give you my top three favorite DFS and Sports betting picks for UFC 284 Makachev vs Volkanovski.
MY UFC VALUE TARGET (CASH&GPP):
Modestas Bukauskas vs Tyson Pedro
Let’s get this out of the way first. I don’t think either of these guys are very good, to be honest. Not only that but I wasn’t sure how Bukauskas was going to recover after those brutal side kicks from Roundtree and then getting cut by the UFC, but after two clean wins in Cage Warriors, he’s back against what I consider to be very light competition. Yes, Pedro is on a two-fight winning streak against Harry Hunsucker and Ike Villanueva. Neither of whom are in the UFC anymore with Hunsucker not earning a single UFC win and holding a 7-6-0 record, while Villanueva was 38 at the time of their fight. I haven’t really seen anything impressive from Pedro, he’s been a pure can crusher as far as I’m concerned. On top of that, Bukauskas has had some good performances in the UFC against Michailidis and Oleksiejczuk. I’m not saying that this one will be a walk in the Park for Bukauskas but Pedro as a -230 favourite doesn’t make sense to me even considering the fact that he’s from Austrailia.
MY UFC DFS PICK: Modestas Bukauskas SECOND-ROUND KO
MY UFC LOCKED-IN TARGET (CASH):
Jack Della Maddalena vs. Randy Brown
Della Maddalena is back and he’s fighting at home in Perth, Australia! Unfortunately, that means that he’s predictably coming in as a heavy favourite here as he will attempt to break into the top 15 of the Welterweight rankings. Occupying that 15th spot is “Rudeboy” Randy Brown who has strung together some good wins following his loss against Vincente Luque. Unfortunately for Brown, I think tonight he is coming up against a fighter who can compete in the top 5 of the Welterweight division. Realistically, at 26 years old Maddalena is beginning to enter his prime and to his credit, he’s already strung together three first-round knockouts in the UFC and is on an impressive 13-fight winning streak. In this streak, we saw just how deadly Della Maddalena’s strikes truly are. His shots are not only powerful put their precise. He can pick his shots, and get them clean on target with lots of power. I’m definitely not taking anything away from Brown but he has simply not fought anyone at the level of Della Maddalena. I think that this fight will largely take place on the feet and that Della Maddalena will take charge of the fight early on. I’m expecting another first-round knockout and this time in front of the hometown fans.
MY UFC DFS PICK: Jack Della Maddalena FIRST-ROUND KO.
MY UFC TOP SCORING TARGET (GPP):
Zubaira Tukhugov vs. Elves Brenner
To be honest, I don’t even think this fight will be competitive. We’re looking at a Khabib protege with UFC experience coming up against an unknown fighter out of Brazil who is making his UFC debut after submission wins against two fighters, one with a 3-1 record and the other with a 7-5 record. Clearly, Brenner has some competency when it comes to grappling but it will not hold a candle to being a master of sport in Combat Sambo AND Hand-to-Hand combat while also training with Khabib himself. A few other things of note are that Brenner is coming in on short notice as Tukhugov was supposed to fight Joel Alvarez on this card and as has happened before, Tukhugov has some issues making weight. He came in about a pound and a half over and usually this would signal to me that he had a bad cut but with the fight proceeding as a catch-weight, I think the extra pounds will actually be a bit of an unfair advantage to Tukhugov in what should be a very grapple heavy matchup.
MY UFC DFS PICK: Zubaira Tukhugov FIRST-ROUND SUBMISSION. (possible FIRST-ROUND KO)
UFC HONORABLE MENTIONS:
(Not in order)
Islam Makachev 5 ROUNDER (I am not counting Volk out completely but a few factors led me to this decision. First, Makachev has a huge size advantage, just look at their faceoff to see what I’m talking about. Considering that Makachev has a ground game that will be very imposing and dominant. I think his size will play an increased role. Volkanovski himself has recognized that Makachev will most likely take him down so he’s mentally submitting to the fact that he’s fighting in his world. With Khabib in Islam’s corner, I don’t see a clear path to victory for Volk. Volk has to get a knockout, or keep his distance and do serious damage on the feet to win this one. Makachev is not invincible but I expect him to win this one handily.) [Of note, it looked like Makachev had a stressful weight cut but he made it so I am not putting to much into it]
Yair Rodriguez (Honestly, I don’t believe that this should’ve ever been a title matchup. Neither fighter had a clean win en route to this title shot. Yair beat Ortega by TKO when Ortega got a self-inflicted shoulder injury and Emmett won a controversial split decision over Calvin Kattar, which I honestly believed Kattar should’ve won. Realistically, Rodriguez is a better and more creative striker than Emmett. This fight may appear close at the start but I think as the fight goes on Rodriguez will begin to get a bit of an advantage.)
Justin Tafa
Jimmy Crute
Melsik Baghdasaryan
Kleydson Rodrigues
Loma Lookboonmee FADE
Jack Jenkins
Blake Bilder
Francisco Prado (Man. This Prado kid has something special, 11-0-0 with 100% finish rate. That is very impressive but making your UFC debut against Jamie Mullarkey in his backyard is a big ask of the 20-year old Argentine. I see a lot of value in Prado as a DEEP GPP play for Daily Fantasy and maybe in a riskier parlay but I don’t know if he can beat someone like Mullarkey this early on in his career. This will be a trial by fire for Prado, we’ll see how it goes for him)
SUMMARY:
On Saturday’s fourteen-bout MMA UFC DFS slate, I am finally allowed to bet again on UFC as restrictions have now been lifted in my area, As such I will play 2 Parlays. Remember, to take down a GPP, you have to be different and take risks. Scared money doesn’t make money in tournaments. For any further questions, I will be available until lock in our WinDaily Discord chat. GOOD LUCK, and don’t forget to come back and Win Daily!
PARLAY OF THE DAY
Yair Rodriguez -175
Jack Jenkins Finish/KO -125
Blake Bilder +110
Zubaira Tukhugov Finish/Double Chance +120
