UFC Fight Night DFS Picks & Lineups: Whittaker vs. de Ridder Cheat Sheet, 7/26

Published: Jul 25, 2025

Updated: Jul 25, 2025

UFC Fight Night: Whittaker vs De Ridder takes place this Saturday live from Abu Dhabi. The card kicks off with the Early Prelims at 12:00 PM EST on ESPN, followed by the Main Card at 3:00 on ABC/ESPN+. The Main Event features Robert Whittaker looking to make his return to the title picture of the Middleweight Division against rising prospect Reinier De Ridder. The Co-Main event features former Bantamweight Champion Petr Yan against another red-hot prospect in Marcus McGhee.

Check out all the latest UFC on ESPN odds, stats, predictions, and matchup breakdowns for the entire fight card below, and always feel free to reach out to me in Discord or on Twitter at @MikeIannoneDFS. Now let's look at some UFC DFS top picks and plays for Saturday's event. Good luck with your MMA daily fantasy lineups!

MMA DFS Playbook for UFC Fight Night: Whittaker vs De Ridder

Main Event
Fighter(s)	Price	Opponent	Risk	Odds	ITD
Robert Whittaker vs Reinier de Ridder	8400/7800	-	Stackability: Low	-155/ 140	140./180.
A great matchup in the 185lb division has former champion Whittaker takes on Reinier de Ridder. Whittaker has superior boxing, but he needs to avoid the clinch and takedowns that de Ridder will likely try to implement. Reinier has a ton of submissions on his resume so he will likely try to close the distance to get this fight to the ground. Whittaker really struggles when he can't deal with the physicality in his opponents such as his losses to Du Plessis and Chimaev, but Reinier isn't as physical as those fighters. I expect Whittaker to be able to control the distance and win by R3-4-5 KO.

Expensive Fighters

Expensive
Fighter(s)	Price	Opponent	Risk	Odds	ITD
Shara Magomedov	9600	Marc-Andre Barriault	Somewhat-Safe	-675	-150
We don't have any big grapplers in the high range this week so we likely need to focus on finishing ability. Barriault can be durable but when he does get KO’d, he almost always gets KO'd early. Shara is taking a major step back in competition here compared to his last opponent, Michael "Venom" Paige. Shara should lead the striking and I expect him to dominate this fight and find the early finish.
Carlos Leal	9400	Muslim Salikhov	Somewhat-Safe	-500	-175
Leal is more physical than Salikhov, but Salikhov has an ability to slow down fights so outside of the finish he might not score well. Leal can wrestle here if he wants, but he doesn't always go to that well. I expect him to win the fight cleanly, it all comes down to if he gets the KO and I think he eventually will find it.
Marcus Buchecha	9100	Martin Buday	Somewhat-Safe	-310	-140
Buchecha has a really high ceiling but he is a debuting fighter so it's always tough to trust them. He is one of the best heavyweight grappling prospects the UFC has ever seen so expect him to try to get this fight down early. If he can get on top of Buday he should be able to get the finish, but a lot of times we see these grappling aces come to the UFC and struggle to implement the wrestling. He has taken 6 fights outside of the UFC so he should be better prepared than some of the prospects we have seen.
Steven Nguyen	9200	Mohammad Yahya	Moderate	-395	-125
Nguyen is a finisher, but he enters enemy territory to take on Yahya. His volume is pretty good and he can mix in wrestling a little bit, but neither of these fighters are very high level so it is hard to trust one. Nguyen should be better but if it goes to the judges’ scorecards, he may have a tough time swaying the judges from picking the local favorite.
Petr Yan	9300	Marcus McGhee	Moderate	-375	350.
Yan isn't a finisher but he takes a big step back in competition this week. McGhee's leg was fried against Jonathan Martinez so I expect Yan to try to do the same thing. Yan could even wrestle here if he wanted to but he rarely uses a fully grappling game plan. I'm betting Yan by KO but there is a big gap in the odds to finish between Yan and the others in this price range.

Mid-Range Fighters

Mid-Range
Fighter(s)	Price	Opponent	Risk	Odds	ITD
Nikita Krylov	8700	Bogdan Guskov	Moderate	-205	-135
Call the midrange 7500-8700 this week since there are only four fights in that range if you remove the main event. Krylov at his best dominates this fight, but he has had some issues of late. He took a two-year hiatus (moved from Ukraine to Russia and denounced his citizenship I believe) and looked slower than normal. He is a well-rounded fighter and I expect him to wrestle here, and while his cardio isn't world class it should be good enough for him to hold off Guskov.
Asu Almabayev	8000	Jose Ochoa	Moderate	-125	475.
A big jump down straight into an "underdog" pick but I expect him to be one of the highest owned fighters on the slate. He won't finish the fight but the way he wins is with a ton of wrestling volume and control time so even in a decision he can score well. He didn't have success against Kape last time out but Kape is someone who on his best night can win a title in this division so you can't hold that against him.
Amanda Ribas	8600	Tabatha Ricci	Somewhat-Risky	-205	450.
I've been back and forth on this fight all week but after seeing the face offs, I lean towards Ribas. Her size difference is probably going to let her dictate where the fight takes place and if she keeps it standing or ends up on top in a scramble she will win the fight. As long as she isn't controlled against the cage or taken down by Ricci her skillset everywhere else is better than Ricci's.
Bryce Mitchell	8300	Said Nurmagomedov	Somewhat-Risky	-140	380.
Bryce is moving down a weight class here so hopefully his wrestling will translate. He has good submission skills and decent wrestling but he was outsized up at 145lbs by some good fighters (Topuria/ Jean Silva/ Josh Emmett). Said has some good submission skills of his own but if anyone is looking to wrestle it will be Bryce.
Bogdan Guskov	7500	Nikita Krylov	Somewhat-Risky	170	200.
This is a high variance fight and I expect someone to get the finish. Guskov has power, and if he lands clean, especially on a tired Krylov he should be able to get the finish.
Tabatha Ricci	7600	Amanda Ribas	Somewhat-Risky	170	900.
Ricci has wrestling upside but she won't finish this fight. She probably need 3+ takedowns to have a chance to win this but that makes her a good DraftKings play since any win is going to come with wrestling points.
Said Nurmagomedov	7900	Bryce Mitchell	Risky	120	225.
He has tight submissions so he could finish Mitchell. I don't love targeting against Mitchell since he should be the one ending up on top but if anyone is going to leave their neck out to be finished it'll be Mitchell.

Paydown Fighters

Pay-Downs
Fighter(s)	Price	Opponent	Risk	Odds	ITD
Billy Elekana	7300	Ibo Aslan	Somewhat-Risky	230	475.
Elekana is tough and Aslan tends to slow down. I like Elekana to keep the range and land some big strikes to get the win.
Davey Grant	7200	Da'Mon Blackshear	Somewhat-Risky	285	700.
Grant is the split decision king. All of his fights tend to have him rocking his opponent and him getting rocked in return but they rarely end in finishes. If Blackshear has his wrestling going, he might be able to get the submission but, on the feet, I favor Grant.
Martin Buday	7100	Marcus Buchecha	Risky	250	550.
Buday takes on a newcomer and on the feet, this should be a close fight. Heavyweight wrestling normally leads to whoever ends up on top holds the position so if Buchecha pulls guard to go for a leg lock Buday might be able to capitalize.
Mohammad Yahya	7000	Steven Nguyen	Risky	310	650.
He normally finishes fights but he is just not at the UFC level. I don't know if Nguyen is either though. He should keep it standing since he never really wrestles and if it is close he might get the nod as the local fan favorite.
Muslim Salikhov	6800	Carlos Leal	Risky	380	800.
Salikhov is going to throw spin attacks, but the question is will they land. He doesn't throw much volume but he has power if he lands clean. As a +800 ITD I don't want to back someone who is a KO or bust fighter.
Marc-Andre Barriault	6600	Shara Magomedov	Risky	490	900.
Barriault has some skills and can wrestle a little bit. He has a tough matchup here and is going to be giving up speed and durability so he should wrestle, I just don't know if he will actually use it since he never prioritizes it.
Marcus McGhee	6900	Petr Yan	Risky	295	750.
Yan is very hard to finish, and this is a major step up for McGhee. I don't see him having a path to score more than 65-70pts so he needs other dogs to lose even if he wins which could be tough to ask.

Sample Lineup

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AI-generated content may be incorrect.

Live Dogs

De Ridder, Guskov, Elekana, Nurmagomedov

Picks and Stats


Robert Whittaker	vs	Reinier de Ridder
$8,400	DFS Salary	$7,800
Record: 27-8-0	Record	Record: 20-2-0
10	Knockouts	5
5	Subs	13
-155	Vegas Odds	+140

Petr Yan	vs	Marcus McGhee
$9,300	DFS Salary	$6,900
Record: 18-5-0	Record	Record: 10-1-0
7	Knockouts	8
1	Subs	1
-375	Vegas Odds	+295

Shara Magomedov	vs	Marc-Andre Barriault
$9,600	DFS Salary	$6,600
Record: 15-1-0	Record	Record: 17-9-0 (1 NC)
12	Knockouts	11
0	Subs	1
-675	Vegas Odds	490

Asu Almabayev	vs	Jose Ochoa
$8,000	DFS Salary	$8,200
Record: 21-3-0	Record	Record: 8-1-0 (1 NC)
3	Knockouts	7
9	Subs	1
-125	Vegas Odds	105

Nikita Krylov	vs	Bogdan Guskov
$8,700	DFS Salary	$7,500
Record: 30-10-0	Record	Record: 17-3-0
12	Knockouts	14
16	Subs	3
-205	Vegas Odds	170
	0
Bryce Mitchell	vs	Said Nurmagomedov
$8,300	DFS Salary	$7,900
Record: 17-4-0	Record	Record: 18-4-0
1	Knockouts	4
9	Subs	6
-140	Vegas Odds	120

Muslim Salikhov	vs	Carlos Leal
$6,800	DFS Salary	$9,400
Record: 21-5-0	Record	Record: 22-6-0
14	Knockouts	11
2	Subs	2
380	Vegas Odds	-500

Davey Grant	vs	Da'Mon Blackshear
$7,200	DFS Salary	$9,000
Record: 16-7-0	Record	Record: 17-7-1
4	Knockouts	2
9	Subs	11
285	Vegas Odds	-360

Amanda Ribas	vs	Tabatha Ricci
$8,600	DFS Salary	$7,600
Record: 13-6-0	Record	Record: 11-3-0
3	Knockouts	1
4	Subs	3
-205	Vegas Odds	170

Ibo Aslan	vs	Billy Elekana
$8,900	DFS Salary	$7,300
Record: 14-2-0	Record	Record: 7-2-0
14	Knockouts	3
0	Subs	1
-285	Vegas Odds	230

Mohammad Yahya	vs	Steven Nguyen
$7,000	DFS Salary	$9,200
Record: 12-5-0	Record	Record: 9-2-0
7	Knockouts	4
2	Subs	3
310	Vegas Odds	-395

Martin Buday	vs	Marcus Buchecha
$7,100	DFS Salary	$9,100
Record: 15-2-0	Record	Record: 5-1-0
7	Knockouts	1
2	Subs	4
250	Vegas Odds	-310