UFC Fight Night DFS Picks & Lineups: Machado Garry vs. Prates Cheat Sheet, 4/26

UFC Fight Night: Garry vs Prates takes place this Saturday live from Kansas City, Missouri. The card kicks off with the Early Prelims at 6:00PM EST on ESPN+, followed by the Main Card at 9:00 on ESPN2/ESPN+.

The Main Event features one of the Fight Nerds, Carlos Prates, taking on another fighter near the top of the division in Ian Garry.  Both of these men are looking to put themselves in the title conversation for 2026 and a win on Saturday will set them up to make a run. 

The Co-Main Event will be former title challenger Anthony Smiths’ retirement fight as he faces off against Zhang Mingyang in a fight that will be entertaining for as long as it lasts.

Check out all the latest UFC Fight Night DFS picks and lineups, plus matchup breakdowns for the entire fight card below and as always feel free to reach out to me in Discord or on X/Twitter at @MikeIannoneDFS.

Now let's look at my UFC Fight Night cheat sheet for Saturday's event. Good luck with your UFC Fight Night DFS picks and lineups!

UFC Fight Night DFS Picks & Lineups: Garry vs. Prates Cheat Sheet, 4/25

Main Event UFC DFS Picks

A potential title eliminator fight headlines the card this week as Carlos Prates from the "Fighting Nerds" gym takes on Ian Garry. Prates has all the power in the world, but we haven't seen him have to deal with someone as well rounded as Garry yet. Garry nearly knocked off the undefeated Shavkat Rakhmonov in his last fight and showed he had the cardio to go five rounds. I'm leaning towards Garry because of his cardio and wrestling upside, but Prates has shown he carries his power deep into fights so Garry will have to be defensively minded for the entire fight if he wants to win Saturday night.

Expensive UFC DFS Picks

She is a little bit of a discount off of the top priced fighters and her line has swelled massively. She is a submission or bust fighter, so she'll be looking for takedowns early and Viana has struggled to defend them. If this fight gets into the second round her cardio might fall off of a cliff, but she likely wins it in the first round by submission.

Muniz is someone who can be outmuscled at times, and as long as Aliskerov avoids the floor he dominates this fight. An early KO is Aliskerov's easiest path to victory, but Muniz may provide some early adversity with his wrestling which is why I have him lower than Amorim this week,

Zhang has a ton of first round finishes, so his upside is as high as anyone in this price range, but there are still a lot of unknowns about him. The level of competition that he has faced is the real bottom of the barrel of the division, while Smith was a former title challenger. Anthony Smith is retiring after this fight, so we don't know where his head is at, but he has always been a tough fighter who drags fights out. If Zhang doesn't KO Smith in the first round, he is live to be upset.

Elder is mainly a striker, but he has shown that he can get a few takedowns from time to time. Young was taken down repeatedly on his Contender Series fight so Elder may be able to get some this week. There is a clear step down after the top 3 fighters in this price range, so I probably won't end up with much Elder.

I like Blackshear more than Elder in almost every area of the fight, but I don't know how high his ceiling is. Alateng is known for being durable with his only loss by finish in the last ten years being against former Flyweight Title Challenger Kai Asakura. I think Blackshear gets it done by submission and he's more likely to win than Elder, but I'm not sure he is going to be making many of my DraftKings lineups this week.

Mid-Range UFC DFS Picks

I really like Pereira this week. I think people are overreacting to him getting outwrestled by Fluffy Hernandez. He should have the power and cardio advantage here, so I expect him to get a finish, likely in R2/3.

Romero looked good in his UFC debut against David Onama, and we saw him nearly pull off the major upset. He has more volume striking on the feet, and we've seen Timmy get a lethargic in there. If he lands clean, he can win this fight by KO.

Gutierrez is someone I normally avoid but his price is reasonable this week and he has clear advantages over Castaneda. He throws really hard leg kicks, and we've seen him have success with them even when he enters into the top 15. He isn't someone who pushes a heavy pace, so he'll need to get the finish to win you a GPP. He is someone I would be more comfortable playing in a cash game.

Wellmaker has power and pushes a heavy pace but this is a tough matchup for him. Saaiman is someone who likes to keep it standing as well so I expect there to be a lot of striking exchanges in this matchup. This is a good matchup for a high scoring fight on DraftKings and although Wellmaker is making his debut, I do think he is the better striker than Saaiman, so I give him the slight edge.

I like this matchup in general for the best mid-range fight, so I consider both sides of it if I'm making a lineup. I think Saaiman ends up getting more owned in tournaments with his odds being -102 and only $7800. I don't want to overplay this fight because it might not end in a finish, but both of these fighters have a path to landing 100+ significant strikes and scoring well even in a decision win.

Abus has power in the early parts of his fight and has recently been including takedowns into the mix. His wrestling isn't great, but he's been successful against the lowest level of competition. He has a high ceiling because of his finishing ability, but it's going to be a high score in an early finish, or an extremely low score for Abus this week.

He doesn't have much finishing upside, and it will be hard for him to get inside of Gutierrez's kicks. He does mix in takedowns so if he does get inside, he might be able to get his wrestling going, but without the takedowns I don't see him scoring well enough to be needed to win a tournament.

Paydown UFC DFS Picks

It is a tough week in the paydown range this week. Giga has the best chance to win but all of his scoring on DK is from his finishing bonus. In a 15-minute fight he'll probably land 60 strikes, you just have to hope that one of them can KO Onama. If he keeps it standing, he should be able to have his moments.

Dalby's best ability is in wearing down his opponent using wrestling and cage control. If he can wear down Brown it might pay off later in the fight, but it will be tough for him to get in range.

Flick might be the most popular underdog at $7000 and only +150 to win his fight. Schnell has durability issues and is retiring after this fight, so we don't know where his head is going in. Flick's best path to victory is via submission, and if he can't find it, I think he eventually gets finished.

Young comes in on short notice which normally isn't great, but this is a winnable fight. His striking is decent, his takedown defense is a work in progress. It's a high variance fight between two low level fighters.

Smith is retiring after this fight, but this is a major step back for him. Zhang is a first-round finish or bust fighter so if Smith can survive the early onslaught, he might be able to turn the tides with a submission victory.

He is a low floor fighter, but his ceiling is really high if he can get the submission. He's submission or bust and although he probably doesn't get it, if he does win, he'll be killing off a huge number of Aliskerov lineups in the process.

Amorim gases out after the first round. I actually like this fight to go under 2.5 rounds since it's either Amorim by submission or Viana late. She might get subbed immediately so this isn't a cash game.

Alateng is a decision fighter, so he doesn't have a high ceiling. He needs to win this fight on the feet, but Blackshear is a major step up for him, so I don't think he'll be able to do it. Due to his capped ceiling, I won't be playing him in tournaments.

UFC DFS Optimizer: Sample UFC Fight Night Lineup

MMA DFS Strategy: Live Dogs

• Prates, Smith, Flick, Saaiman, Flick, Chikadze

Garry vs. Prates UFC Fight Night Picks & Stats