UFC Fight Night DFS Picks & Playbook: Perez vs. Taira Cheat Sheet, 6/15

UFC Fight Night: Taira vs. Perez takes place this Saturday live from the UFC Apex in Las Vegas Nevada. The card kicks off with the Prelims at 7:00PM EST on ESPN2/ESPN+ and the Main Card on ESPN2/ESPN+ at 10:00PM EST.

The main event this week features a fight at flyweight between one of the best prospects in the division, Tatsuro Taira, and former title challenger Alex Perez. The co-main event faces off all action Douglas Silva de Andrade against powerful wrestler Miles John.

Check out all the latest UFC DFS picks, stats, predictions and matchup breakdowns for the entire fight card below and as always, feel free to reach out to me in Discord or on twitter at @MikeIannoneDFS. 

Now let's look at some of my top UFC DFS picks and plays for Saturday's event. Good luck with your MMA daily fantasy lineups!

DFS Picks, Playbook & DraftKings UFC Lineup Advice: UFC Fight Night, Taira vs. Perez

Main Event

A flyweight main event between former title challenger Alex Perez and uber prospect Tatsuro Taira should be all action. Perez is the better striker with more volume, but Taira has really good BJJ and solid wrestling. Perez has been known in the past to be able to stop most takedown attempts shot on him so he could win this if he keeps it standing. I think this might be too much too soon for Taira, so I am leaning towards Perez but if Taira wins, he probably scores extremely well because he'll need a bunch of takedowns to get the fight where he wants it. Both are live for DK but I'm leaning towards a straight bet on Perez.

Expensive Fighters

Asu has the clear wrestling advantage and he is going to need to use it. Jose is absolutely massive for his first trip down to 125lbs as he is going to come in a 6ft tall and a 71-inch reach. Asu's best path to victory is to rack up 5+ takedowns and 10+ minutes of control time which would lead to him smashing DraftKings scoring. 

Flick is an absolute liability in terms of his ability to take a strike and Maness should be able to land clean on him early. Maness has struggled defending takedowns in the past but the level of competition that has taken him down is much better than what he faces here. Flick is submission or bust and I think this is going to be a bust.

I think this line is too big on Saragih, but Wilson is up there with Flick as one of the worst chins in the UFC. If Jeka lands clean the fight is going to be over early, I think Wilson is a little better defensively than Flick so that's why I rated Jeka lower.

Judice was in an absolute war on the Contender Series and while I'm not sure if she is going to be pushing as ridiculous of a pace, the fact that she was in a fight that both fighters landed 150+ significant strikes lead me to think no one will be wrestling here. Fernandes has more power and I think she could get the late KO here.

Mid-Range Fighters

Both of these fighters last fought Steve Garcia and lost to him, but both had success early. I think Costa is the better grappler so I'm siding with him in this fight, but I expect most of these mid-range fights to be closely contested.

For what I think is the third week in a row we have the $8000 priced fighter being the favorite over the $8200 priced fighter. Johns looked like he finally had his cardio in check last fight and Andrade normally fades late so I expect him to control the fight early and eventually take over once Andrade's cardio fails. 

Fugitt is a high upside play as he has finished or been finished in all of his UFC fights. I think he has the wrestling advantage here so if he can get the fight down, he should be able to get the win. Quinlan has a lot of power that Fugitt will have to avoid, but if he can, he should win the fight.

Armfield is going to be the much better striker, but Brady has a way of slowing fights with his grappling so I'm worried about his upside. If Armfield can stop the takedowns coming at him he does have the ceiling to win a GPP, but I'm nervous that especially early on in this fight he is going to have to worry too much about takedowns for him to really explode into his strikes.

Shayilan mixes up his wrestling and striking fairly well and he may be the overall stronger fighter here so he could just bully Costa. He is very low volume so outside of a finish it'll be tough for him to get on the optimal lineup, but I feel like whoever wins this fight is going to look like they should have been -400.

Silva de Andrade has to always be written up anytime he fights because of the power he has in his hands. If he lands clean, he can drop anyone in the division, but I think this week John's wrestling is going to be too much for him. He is a very boom or bust fighter.

Quinlan is KO or bust but he has a really high ceiling. If he lands clean on Fugitt early on he is going to put up a massive score. I have a bad taste in my mouth from Quinlan after he got doubled up on strikes in his last two fights and maybe I'm being too harsh, but I don't love him this week.

Paydown Fighters

Almeida has a 100% finish rate, so he is either going to get a finish or likely gets finished here. Almeida has faced legitimate veteran competition in his last few fights, so I think this is a step back for him here. I think he should be able to out strike Timmy and hopefully find a finish.

Hiestand is one of the few underdogs who really looks to wrestle in all of his fights. He won't get the finish, but he should be able to rack up some control time and I wouldn't be surprised if two of the three judges score the fight his way. His ceiling is probably capped around 85-90pts but at $7500 that might be enough to make the optimal.

Johnson has a huge reach advantage and the striking advantage so if he can maintain space, he can win this fight. It isn't likely but he has a clear path to victory and as the biggest dog on the slate that is something you don't see very often.

Flick is a GPP only play, but if he gets the fight to the ground, he is very live for a submission. He may try to pull guard as anytime spent on the feet he is going to be in danger, but he has a high ceiling as his only path to victory is a submission victory.

Wilson has the skills to win this fight but not the chin, he also has some crafty submission skills so if he does get the fight down, he might be able to really take advantage of Jeka. He likely scores under 10 or more than 90pts.

She throws a lot of volume and that could help her ability to score well even in a decision. I think she losses the fight, but she has a much higher ceiling than Polastri.

Low volume and she is taking on a good wrestler. I think her ceiling and floor are both extremely low and won't be using her in my lineups. She'll need to win and have a lot of other fights go her way for her to reach the optimal.

Sample UFC Fight Night DFS Lineup

Live Dogs

Perez, Almeida, Fugitt, Johnson, Johns

Taira vs. Perez UFC Fight Night Picks & Stats