UFC Vegas 108 DraftKings DFS Preview and Picks
Get top DraftKings MMA DFS picks and strategy for UFC Vegas 108: Taira vs. Park. Build winning lineups with our preview, analysis & fighter breakdowns.
If you're hoping to turn the event into an opportunity to build your DFS bankroll, DraftKings.com has you covered with a full slate of contests, including a $350k UFC Throwdown with $100k to first place. Players get a $50,000 budget to select six fighters, and the scoring rules are noted at the bottom of the column. Let's get to the action...
Main Event - Flyweight
Tatsuro Taira (16-1-0) v. Hyun Sung Park (10-0-0)
DK Salaries: Taira ($9,200), Park ($7,000)
Vegas Odds: Taira (-340), Park (+250)
This was originally supposed to be Taira v. Amir Albazi before the latter withdrew a little over a week ago because he wasn't medically cleared to compete. Park was due to fight Steve Erceg next week, so he has a full training camp under his belt.
Taira is coming off a loss -- the first of his professional career -- to Brandon Royval via split decision in October. Prior to that, he had won each of his first six fights with the company, although there wasn't a notable victory in the bunch. Taira's best UFC win is over Alex Perez, and that stoppage came due to injury. The difference between he and Park is that at age 25, Taira should have significant room for further growth moving forward.
Park won the Road to the UFC Season 2 flyweight tournament. He's undefeated as a professional, but his two UFC victories are over Carlos Hernandez and Shannon Ross. He'll also be 30 years of age in November, so he's not young. Park may be fine down the road, but this seems like a pretty big ask in short order.
Albazi felt like such a terrible matchup for Taira because he's such a low-volume striker. Park is better in that area (4.27 significant strikes landed per minute), but numbers put up against Hernandez and Ross don't mean a whole lot.
Taira is worse in that area (2.99 significant strikes landed per minute), but his grappling is more reliable. He was battered on the feet against Royval, but managed to turn six takedowns and 12:13 worth of control time into a split decision result. Taira isn't particularly active from top position and, his ground-and-pound is lacking, and that's going to leave him in a bunch of subjective decisions unless he inflicts more damage on his opposition.
Again, I put minimal stock in Park's 100 percent takedown defense to date. Ross has zero grappling game, and Hernandez didn't attempt a takedown.
Taira opened as roughly a -225 favorite and it got bet up immediately. I understand it. Park is scrappy, and this is a five-round fight, so I can see him hanging tough and putting forth a decent enough showing to see the final bell, but I think the physicality of Taira wins out in the end.
THE PICK: Taira
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Co-Main Event - Lightweight
Chris Duncan (13-2-0) v. Mateusz Rebecki (20-2-0)
DK Salaries: Duncan ($7,200), Rebecki ($9,000)
Vegas Odds: Duncan (+175), Rebecki (-225)
Primarily matched up against lesser competition, Rebecki has won four of his first five UFC fights. His most impressive victory was his last, a split decision over Myktybek Orolbai in October. Rebecki will be 33 years old in early-October, and I'm not sure he's the type of high-level athlete that can have continued success in a loaded division as he ages, but his wrestling game is a legitimate difference maker and should be for another year or two, at least.
Duncan is on a nice run of his own, winning four of his first five fights with the company. The last two have come via submission (Jordan Vucenic, Bolaji Oki), which is pretty funny because I always viewed him as more of a brawler with a questionable ground game. Duncan does train with American Top Team, so it's not out of the realm of possibility he's improving still. He turned 32 years of age this past May.
Rebecki is averaging 3.84 takedowns per 15 minutes and landing a whopping 45 percent of his attempts. I don't trust his cardio in the least, but for a round of two he's plenty dangerous.
According to the numbers, Duncan's grappling has been even better than Rebecki's. He's averaging 4.1 takedowns per 15 minutes, although those numbers are skewed by the four takedowns he landed against Vucenic in less than nine minutes.
When push comes to shove, I definitely trust Rebecki's grappling game more. He's done it against better competition, albeit that's a low bar. Duncan's 43 percent takedown defense is awful, while Rebecki is a more respectable 75 percent.
Both guys get hit too much on the feet and neither, Rebecki in particular, look uncomfortable in prolonged striking exchanges.
Duncan's best chance of winning is likely via an early stoppage. He's a solid fighter, but I think Rebecki's wrestling is a legitimate difference-maker -- by far the biggest threat either man possesses.
THE PICK: Rebecki
Lightweight
Elves Brener (16-5-0) v. Esteban Ribovics (14-2-0)
DK Salaries: Brener ($7,100), Ribovics ($9,100)
Vegas Odds: Brener (-280), Ribovics (+210)
A product of Dana White's Contender Series, Ribovics earned his UFC opportunity with a 90-second knockout win on the show back in August 2022. He's had five official fights with the company since, going 3-2. His last two bouts have ended in split decision, with a win over Daniel Zellhuber at Noche UFC last September and a loss to Nasrat Haqparast in March. Ribovics is already 29 years old, so there doesn't appear to be much here in the way of future ceiling.
Brener is likely fighting for his job on Saturday. He began his UFC run with three straight wins, including a pair via knockout, but struggled after the competition level rose. Brener dropped a unanimous decision to Orolbai in May 2024 before being knocked out by Joel Alvarez less than three months later. It was a very quick turnaround, and I don't hold either setback against him, particularly the Alvarez loss. Still, Brener needs to show something here if he wants to stick around beyond this fight.
Ribovics is your classic one-dimensional brawler. He is more than willing to eat two strikes in order to land three of his own. He has power and has displayed elite durability to date, so while it's certainly not the style of fighting I advocate against better competition, it may just work here against Brener.
Esteban's 8.08 significant strikes landed per minute, and the 5.92 he absorbs, are both unsustainable numbers over the long term.
On the flip side, Brener is absorbing 5.3 significant strikes per minute. The difference is that he's landing just 3.99. Yes, he's a better grappler than Ribovics and that plays into the numbers, but Elves has never landed more than 69 significant strikes in any one UFC bout. For comparison's sake, Ribovics has finished with 147 and 156 in his past two bouts.
As long as Esteban is able to remain upright, which shouldn't be too much of an issue, I think he simply drowns Brener with volume on the feet, even if this price seems a tad high.
THE PICK: Ribovics
Welterweight
Neil Magny (29-14-0) v. Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos (25-9-1)
DK Salaries: Magny ($7,400), Zaleski dos Santos ($8,800)
Vegas Odds: Magny (+155), Zaleski dos Santos (-200)
The UFC has done Magny no favors in regards to booking of late, and he's rocking a 2-4 mark in his past half-dozen bouts as a result. He's fresh off back-to-back knockout defeats at the hands of Carlos Prates and Michael Morales, while his other two setbacks during that stretch came against Ian Garry and Gilbert Burns. Magny will be 38 years of age the day after this event takes place. The company simply needs to give him softer matchups, which they did here.
Zaleski dos Santos will be 39 years old in November, so he too is running out of time. The Brazilian has been the definition of roster depth of late, going 3-2-1 in his past six fights dating back to October 2021. The first victory in that stretch came against Benoit Saint-Denis in a fight in which Zaleski dos Santos managed to earn the unanimous decision win despite being docked a point in Round 3 for an illegal low blow.
Magny, even in his heyday, was very much a generalist. He's a long, lanky guy, but he's a below-average athlete and lacks one elite skill to fall back upon in the event of trouble. He was always one of the best in the UFC at tailoring his game plan to his opposition. He doesn't care about style points and never has. He'll do whatever is necessary to win a fight. It's rarely pretty, but that doesn't matter, especially this late in his career.
Zaleski dos Santos was knocked out in his most recent fight against Chidi Njokuani in March. Njokuani missed weight for that fight, but whenever a fighter displayed durability issues this late in their career, it makes you wonder if it's a sign of things to come. If it is, it's a problem, because one of Elizeu's greatest attributes over the years has been his durability.
Magny is going to enter with a four-inch edge in height and whopping seven-inch edge in reach. He's certainly not the type of fighter to stand at distance and pick his opposition apart, but when you start talking about advantages that large, it definitely means something.
Everything about how this fight is being viewed feels off to me. Magny is certainly at the tail end of his career, but I think his recent struggles are heavily skewed by the level of competition he has been facing. ZDS is no spring chicken himself, and I don't see in what world he should be such a big favorite. I don't love it, but Magny is the pick based on potential value alone.
THE PICK: Magny
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Other Bouts
Women's Bantamweight
Karol Rosa (18-7-0) v. Nora Cornolle (9-2-0)
DK Salaries: Rosa ($8,600), Cornolle ($7,600)
Vegas Odds: Rosa (-190), Cornolle (+150)
THE PICK: Rosa
Featherweight
Danny Silva (10-1-0) v. Kevin Vallejos (15-1-0)
DK Salaries: Silva ($6,800), Vallejos ($9,400)
Vegas Odds: Silva (+310), Vallejos (-440)
THE PICK: Vallejos
Bantamweight
Rinya Nakamura (9-1-0) v. Nathan Fletcher (9-2-0)
DK Salaries: Nakamura ($9,300), Fletcher ($6,900)
Vegas Odds: Nakamura (-440), Fletcher (+310)
THE PICK: Nakamura
Middleweight
Rodolfo Vieira (10-3-0) v. Tresean Gore (6-3-0)
DK Salaries: Vieira ($8,900), Gore ($7,300)
Vegas Odds: Vieira (-225), Gore (+170)
THE PICK: Vieira
Middleweight
Nick Klein (6-2-0) v. Andrey Pulyaev (9-3-0)
DK Salaries: Klein ($7,800), Pulyaev ($8,400)
Vegas Odds: Klein (+120), Pulyaev (-155)
THE PICK: Klein
Featherweight
Austin Bashi (13-1-0) v. John Yannis (9-3-0)
DK Salaries: Bashi ($9,600), Yannis ($6,600)
Vegas Odds: Bashi (-670), Yannis ($+450)
THE PICK: Bashi
Flyweight
Rafael Estevam (13-0-0) v. Felipe Bunes (14-7-0)
DK Salaries: Estevam ($9,500), Bunes ($6,700)
Vegas Odds: Estevam (-500), Bunes (+340)
THE PICK: Estevam
Women's Strawweight
Piera Rodriguez (10-2-0) v. Ketlen Souza (15-5-0)
DK Salaries: Rodriguez ($8,700), Souza ($7,500)
Vegas Odds: Rodriguez (-200), Souza (+155)
THE PICK: Souza
Note: All odds accurate as of time of posting, and taken from the DraftKings Sportsbook, if available. Check out DraftKings to bet on MMA Odds and use the DraftKings promo code for a great welcome offer.
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DraftKings MMA Scoring
Note: Scoring has been updated as of early-2021! Please review the scoring changes below.
Moves Scoring
Strikes: +0.2 PTS
Significant Strikes (SS): +0.2 PTS
Control Time: +0.03 PTS/SECOND
Takedown (TD): +5 PTS
Reversal/Sweep (REV): +5 PTS
Knockdown (KD): +10 PTS
Fight Conclusion Bonuses
1st Round Win (1rW+): +90 PTS
2nd Round Win (2rW+): +70 PTS
3rd Round Win (3rW+): +45 PTS
4th Round Win (4rW+): +40 PTS
5th Round Win (5rW+): +40 PTS
Decision Win (WBD+): +30 PTS
Quick Win Bonus: +25 PTS
(fight is finished in 60 seconds or less)
Scoring Notes
- Significant Strikes are any Distance Strike or Clinch/Ground Strikes that are considered "Power Strikes" by official scorers.
- A Significant Strike will count as both a strike and a significant strike and will be worth a total of 0.4 Pts
- Control Time is the time spent in the dominant position on the ground or in the clinch. +0.03 points are awarded per second.
- A Knockdown is awarded to a fighter who knocks his/her opponent down due to debilitation for what the official scorers consider an appreciable amount of time.
- A Quick Win Bonus is awarded to the winning fighter if they win in the first round in 60 seconds or less.
