TOP PICKS
BRANDON THATCH COST: MEDIUM It doesn’t really matter whether you think Brandon Thatch will beat Benson Henderson or not, with 11 1st round stoppage wins in just 12 career fights, Thatch has the potential to score you big points with another 1st round finish. Brandon Thatch is an essential pick for any Fantasy MMA team for UFC Fight Night 60. NEIL MAGNY Cost: HIGH Neil Magny isn’t known for finishing fights, but Kiichi Kunimoto has terrible striking defence and Neil Magny has a fast, powerful, accurate jab with a 9 inch reach advantage. Kunimoto got badly beaten up by Richie Walsh in his last fight and Magny should easily be able to use his range to blast Kunimoto with strikes. I expect Magny to pepper Kunimoto with strikes until he eventually scores a stoppage win in the 1st or 2nd round. Magny is expensive, but you should definitely think about putting him in your Fantasy MMA team. RODRIGO DE LIMACOST: MEDIUM Rodrigo De Lima has the nickname “Monstro” which means “Monster” in Portuguese. The young Brazilian Jiu Jitsu prodigy might have a basic stand up game, but he’s an absolute “Monster” on the ground. Escudero has decent wrestling, but he’s in big trouble if this fight goes to the ground and there’s a very good chance that De Lima wins this fight inside the distance with a submission victory. [divider]
SAFE PICKS
NIK LENTZ COST: HIGH Nik Lentz is better than Levan Makashvili in every single aspect of Mixed Martial Arts and he’s got great fight IQ. He might not score huge points by finishing Makashvili inside the distance, but there’s a very good chance that he’ll win every round and score a good number of points by picking up a unanimous decision victory. CHAS SKELLY COST: MEDIUM Chas Skelly is a far better grappler than Jim Alers and Alers lacks takedown defence. It’s unlikely that Skelly will be able to score big points with a win inside the distance, but you can bank on him taking Alers down in every round and controlling the fight to win an easy unanimous decision victory. MAX HOLLOWAY COST: HIGH Cole Miller has really good striking defence and he’s tough to put away, which might make it hard for Max Holloway to win this fight inside the distance, but he should still be able to get the job done with a decision win. Holloway is expensive, but he’s a solid pick that can rely on to score you a good number of points. You need guys like Holloway on events like this where there aren’t many other options. [divider]DANGEROUS DOGS
CHRIS KELADES COST: LOW Chris Kelades is a fighter that you should consider putting into the 5th spot of your Fantasy MMA team if you don’t have that much money left to spend. Ray Borg has been hyped up for this fight, but he’s still only 21 years old and he’s very inexperienced. He showed a lot of naivity in his last fight against Dustin Ortiz and frequently gave up position, he also struggled with Ortiz’s top game and control. I’m not saying Kelades is going to win this fight, but he’s got a solid Jiu Jitsu game and strong wrestling base. He managed to grind out a win against Paddy Holohan and I wouldn’t rule out him doing the same by capitalizing on Borg’s youth and inexperience. Borg certainly has all the tools nessessary to make some waves at Flyweight, but right now I feel he’s in a very similar position to Justin Scoggins. He has all the skills and athletic ability, but I’m not quite sure if he has the maturity to use them.
