Daily Fantasy MMA Picks for UFC Fight Night 84 – 2/27/16

Editor's Note: Welcome MMA contributor Shaun Ihasz. Give him a follow on Twitter @ShaunEyeHas

We go across the pond to London, England for UFC Fight Night 84 and I can’t wait for this main event – Anderson Silva vs. Michael Bisping. We’re on a bit of a roll lately so let’s try and churn out some more winners. On a side note, the one thing we were wrong about last week was projecting a boring card. UFC Fight Night 83 was filled with brutal, highlight reel finishes and leaves UFC Fight Night 84 with a lot to live up to.

Vegas Favorites ($10,500+)

Anderson Silva (10,800)
Full disclosure – I’m not an Anderson Silva fan. But Fantasy MMA is about your head, not your heart. We know Spider’s last two losses in basically forever came against Chris Weidman.  One of those was the result of a gruesome broken leg, an image that has left serious mental scars on me. But Silva bounced back with a five-round dismantling of Nick Diaz, which was overturned to a No Contest after both guys failed drug tests. Silva is probably the greatest MMA fighter of all-time (as of now, calm down Jon Jones fans) and I expect his defense and striking accuracy to be too much for Bisping.

Rustam Khabilov ($10,700)
The stats are deceiving in this fight as Khabilov has lost two straight, but those came against competition much tougher than Norman Parke. Kkabilov is a versatile fighter who can pick up a KO or submission and it’s hard to imagine Parke sending him to a third straight loss.   Parke is 1-2 in his last three contests and seems to stumble every time he takes a step up in class. I’m staying with that trend and leaning on Khabilov.

Mid-Range Targets ($9,500-$10,400)

Makwan Amirkhani ($10,200)
Two UFC fights with two first round finishes vaults “Mr. Finland” to the top of my play list this week. In his first UFC fight, Amirkhani delivered a flying knee that earned him a KO just eight seconds into the fight. Next time out it took him all of 1:41 to choke out Masio Fullen. Amirkhani takes on Mike Wilkinson, who scored a first round KO in his last outing against Niklas Backstrom, the recipient of a UFC pink slip in January of last year. But with that said, the red hot Finn is all over my lineups and offers a great chance for a stoppage bonus at his salary.

Jarjis Danho ($9,800)
The “Man Mountain” has to cut weight to make the 265 lbs limit at heavyweight. Read that again. I tend to stay away from guys making their UFC debut and that’s my only hesitation with this pick. But Danho has four first round finishes and is an undefeated 6-0. The “Man Mountain” faces Daniel Omielanczuk who is 1-2 in his last three bouts. This one could go either way, but Danho gets the nod in a fight that is doubtful to go the scorecards.

Upset Alert (Under $9,500)

Thales Leities ($8,400)
The price on Leites just feels wrong, so I’m going to take advantage and use it to roster some of the big favorites. Leites had an eight fight win streak clipped in his last bout, a split decision loss to Michael Bisping. Before that, he had three straight finishes and he is currently the #10 ranked fighter at Middleweight. He should be a small underdog against #9 Gegard Mousasi, but not +235 and $8,400 on DraftKings! Mousasi himself is coming off of a loss, a TKO from #11 Uriah Hall. Maybe I’m missing something but regardless of how the fight goes the salary on Leites is just too low to pass up.

Martin Svensson ($9,400)
Two TUF alumns, both making their UFC debut so I’m leaning towards the more experienced Svensson. Svensson never lost during season 22 of The Ultimate Fighter but had to withdraw from the tournament thanks to a broken elbow. I’m not oozing with confidence on this pick, but if you don’t like Leites then I think Svensson is the best place to pick up salary on this card.