Get top DraftKings MMA DFS picks and strategy for UFC Vegas 112: Royval vs. Kape. Build winning lineups with our preview, analysis & fighter breakdowns.
UFC Vegas 112 DraftKings DFS Preview and Picks
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
Brandon Royval (17-8-0) v. Manel Kape (21-7-0)
DK Salaries: Royval ($7,000), Kape ($9,200)
Vegas Odds: Royval (+230), Kape (-285)
This is the third time this year these two have been scheduled to fight. Royval withdrew in March with a concussion, and Kape withdrew in June due to a foot issue. They're both healthy now and scheduled for a battle that will impact the top of the flyweight rankings.
Kape has won two in a row and six of seven with the UFC, with four of those victories coming via knockout. He's been up and down at times in terms of output and overall effectiveness, but when he's on the top of his game, there isn't a more dynamic and impactful fighter at 125 pounds. For what it's worth, Kape's company debut came against former UFC Flyweight Champion Alexandre Pantoja back in February 2021. He lost via unanimous decision.
I've never been a huge Royval guy, but he's been competing at the very top of the division for the past three years and has done better than I expected. He dropped a decision to Pantoja in a title fight two years ago but was able to rebound with back-to-back split decision wins over Brandon Moreno and Tatsuro Taira. The Taira win in particular looks awfully impressive after last week. He dropped a competitive unanimous decision to Joshua Van, now the champion, in his most recent bout in late-June.
Kape is a highly creative striker. He's fluid, light on his feet and can put together combinations that most flyweight's can only dream of. He averages north of five significant strikes landed per minute (5.05), but does so without giving up much defensively. The power is also legitimate.
Royval has had plenty of success despite the fact he lacks an elite skill. He has nine career wins via submission but averages just 0.67 takedowns per 15 minutes. He lands 5.55 significant strikes per minute on average, but that's only because he engages in wild brawls and is willing to eat two strikes in order to land three of his own. He always shows up ready to go, and the fact this is a five-round fight more definitely favors Brandon.
All of that said, Royval has had zero durability issues, getting knocked out just once in 25 professional fights, so I see no reason for him to change things up at age 33 -- not that he probably could even if he wanted to.
I'm leaning towards the athleticism of Kape, but the price isn't great. The vast majority of flyweight fights are super competitive, particularly at the top of the division, and laying close to $9,000 of your DraftKings budget doesn't seem like a smart play, even if Manel is my pick to win the fight.
THE PICK: Kape
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Co-Main Event - Featherweight
Giga Chikadze (15-5-0) v. Kevin Vallejos (16-1-0)
DK Salaries: Chikadze ($7,100), Vallejos ($9,100)
Vegas Odds: Chikadze (+240), Vallejos (-300)
This is a classic case of an aging veteran going up against a high-end prospect. Something will have to give.
Chikadze, the veteran, has lost two in a row and three of his last four. He has just one win dating back to August 2021. That's obviously concerning. Equally concerning is the inactivity of late for a guy that is now 37 years old. Giga fought once in 2022, once in 2023 and once in 2024. He'll make it to two here in 2025 by competing on the literal last card of the year. Oh, he also missed weight for his most recent fight, a unanimous decision loss to David Onama in April.
Vallejos turned 24 years of age last week. He's 2-0 in the UFC, with a unanimous decision win over Danny Silva and a first-round knockout of Seung Woo Choi on his resume. His lone professional defeat came against Jean Silva -- perfectly reasonable -- on Dana White's Contender Series back in September 2023. He got another shot on DWCS a year later and destroyed Cam Teague in a little over two minutes to earn his contract.
The most obvious discrepancy between the two comes in the form of competition level faced. Vallejos took on Silva, but that was when neither were a member of the UFC roster. Other than that, he's fought no one of note. Giga has been in there with Onama, Arnold Allen, Calvin Kattar, Cub Swanson, Edson Barboza, etc.. You get the idea.
Neither man has any grappling to speak of, so expect this to be a pure kickboxing match.
Chikadze, at full health, is a very good point striker. That said, he isn't high volume. These are his significant strike totals in three-round UFC bouts which went the distance: 59, 38, 61, 65, 65, 38, 43. Now he's getting older, has been banged up a bit, and missed weight his last fight. I find it impossible to believe an bump in output is coming here.
Vallejos is a massive power puncher. 11 of his 16 career wins have come via knockout. He's a pure brawler, similar to Royval in that sense, but the stopping power has carried over to the highest level thus far, albeit against lower-level competition.
The biggest issue for Vallejos is the fact he's going to have to find a way to negate a five-inch deficit in height and six-inch deficit in reach. Giga throws a ton of kicks and he could theoretically just stay to the outside and pick Kevin apart from distance.
Even if Giga's durability holds up to the point he is competitive on the feet, the larger, more eye-catching blows are going to come from the Vallejos side. In an empty UFC Apex, that can make all the difference in the world.
THE PICK: Vallejos
Heavyweight
Kennedy Nzechukwu (14-6-0) v. Marcus Almeida (aka "Buchecha") (5-2-0)
DK Salaries: Nzechukwu ($8,400), Buchecha ($7,800)
Vegas Odds: Nzechukwu (-125), Buchecha (+105)
Going on nearly eight years with the UFC, Nzechukwu has been up and down for nearly the entirety of the run. He's 8-6 with the company and his lone notable victory was a knockout of top contender Carlos Ulberg, although that came back in March 2021 in Ulberg's first fight with the UFC. Kennedy returned to heavyweight in October 2024 and picked up back-to-back knockout wins over Chris Barnett and Lukasz Brzeski before being submitted by Valter Walker in 54 seconds in his most recent bout in July. He looks for all the world like a .500 fighter to me moving forward.
Our exposure to Buchecha is limited to one fight and it wasn't a good one, to put it mildly. He made his UFC debut against Martin Buday in July and dropped a unanimous decision. No disrespect to Buday, but it was a horrible look on multiple levels.
Buchecha's BJJ credentials are amongst the best in the history of the sport. He's a fourth-degree BJJ black belt, multi-time world jiu-jitsu champion, and a member of the International BJJ Hall of Fame.
He'll also be 36 years old a few days into the new year and has all of seven professional MMA fights under his belt. He landed 1-of-11 takedowns against Buday and easily won the lone round in which the takedown connected. Buchecha accomplished little from top position in terms of damage and looked like a fish out of water on the feet in the striking exchanges between the two.
Nzechukwu is another point kickboxer. He's tall (6-foot-5) and long. Kennedy is undersized for the heavyweight division from a weight standpoint. In his three heavyweight fights, Nzechukwu weighed in at 238, 236.5, and 241. His takedown defense is rock solid (80 percent), but he's at risk of getting smothered to death if Marcus gets the grappling game going. For what it's worth, two of Kennedy's six career defeats have come via submission.
This is probably a bad pick, but nothing Kennedy does at heavyweight impresses me. Sure, you can say the same about Buchecha to date, but at least he has a world-class skill to fall back upon in the event of trouble. He's going to get beaten up on the feet if he can't get Nzechukwu to the mat, but I can absolutely envision a world in which he just grinds Kennedy to death for the better part of 10 minutes and wins a boring decision in the process.
It's a pass from a DK standpoint regardless.
THE PICK: Buchecha
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Women's Strawweight
Amanda Lemos (15-5-1) v. Gillian Robertson (16-8-0)
DK Salaries: Lemos ($7,400), Robertson ($8,800)
Vegas Odds: Lemos (+155), Robertson (-185)
The definition of roster depth, Lemos turned 38 years of age in late May and has alternated losses and wins in her last six fights dating back to November 2022. To be fair, she's been matched up against quality competition nearly the entirety of that stretch. Lemos' three setbacks during that previously mentioned stretch came against Tatiana Suarez, Virna Jandiroba, and Zhang Weili. She also has a win over current UFC Women's Strawweight Champion Mackenzie Dern back in February 2024. That said, there's zero ceiling here despite the win over Dern less than two years ago. Also of note is the fact the Suarez fight took place in mid-September, so this is a very quick turn around for an aging fighter.
Robertson has won four straight and six of seven dating back to September 2022. She has two submission wins and two knockout victories in there. Those two knockouts (Polyana Viana, Marina Rodriguez) represent 66 percent of the KO's in Robertson's professional career. She's been with the UFC more than eight years now and has done a terrific job of getting back on track following a woefully inconsistent start during the early portion of her run with the company.
I feel like I say this every single time I break down a Lemos fight, but I struggle to find anything she actually does particularly well.
She defended 9-of-12 takedowns against Suarez, which was impressive, but still managed to give up 9:34 worth of control time. Lemos lands 2.75 significant strikes per minute on average and connects on just 1.02 takedowns per 15 minutes. In other words, she has zero ability to generate consistent offense. Now, would she look better in fights against lesser opponents? Maybe, but Lemos has been with the UFC since July 2017. It's a pretty safe bet this is simply what she is at this point.
Robertson is equally low volume on the feet (2.86 significant strikes landed per minute), but that's far more understandable an acceptable because she's a quality grappler. Gillian has landed multiple takedowns in four straight and six of seven. To summarize, this recent string of success began when she was able to truly weaponize her wrestling game.
Even if Amanda is able to remain upright, I wouldn't be shocked if Robertson outworks her on the feet, even if she's far from the cleanest striker around. Toss in the grappling edge and she's the pick.
THE PICK: Robertson
Other Bouts
Middleweight
Cesar Almeida (7-1-0) v. Cezary Oleksiejczuk (16-3-0)
DK Salaries: Almeida ($7,500), Oleksiejczuk ($8,700)
Vegas Odds: Almeida (+170), Oleksiejczuk (-205)
THE PICK: Oleksiejczuk
Featherweight
Melquizael Costa (24-7-0) v. Morgan Charriere (21-11-1)
DK Salaries: Costa ($8,200), Charriere ($8,000)
Vegas Odds: Costa (-105), Charriere (-115)
THE PICK: Charriere
Featherweight
Joanderson Brito (17-5-1) v. Melsik Baghdasaryan (8-3-0)
DK Salaries: Brito ($9,000) Baghdasaryan ($7,200)
Vegas Odds: Brito (-290), Baghdasaryan (+235)
THE PICK: Brito
Welterweight
Neil Magny (31-14-0) v. Yaroslav Amosov (28-1-0)
DK Salaries: Magny ($6,800), Amosov ($9,400)
Vegas Odds: Magny (+310), Amosov (-395)
THE PICK: Amosov
Heavyweight
Sean Sharaf (4-1-0) v. Steven Asplund (6-1-0)
DK Salaries: Sharaf ($7,300), Asplund ($8,900)
Vegas Odds: Sharaf (+185), Asplund (-225)
THE PICK: Asplund
Women's Bantamweight
Melissa Croden (7-2-0) v. Luana Santos (9-2-0)
DK Salaries: Croden ($7,700), Santos ($8,500)
Vegas Odds: Croden (+110), Santos (-130)
THE PICK: Santos
Heavyweight
Allen Frye Jr. (6-0-0) v. Guilherme Pat (5-0-0)
DK Salaries: Frye ($7,600), Pat ($8,600)
Vegas Odds: Frye (+140), Pat (-170)
THE PICK: Pat
Women's Flyweight
Jamey-Lyn Horth (8-2-0) v. Tereza Bleda (7-1-0)
DK Salaries: Horth ($7,900), Bleda ($8,300)
Vegas Odds: Horth (+130), Bleda (-155)
THE PICK: Horth
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.
