Dana White’s Contender Series Picks: Week 5 | DraftKings Sportsbook

A DraftKings Sportsbook bettor made a huge profit during last week's episode, turning five dollars into over $1,900 with a four-leg Dana White’s Contender Series Parlay Bet featuring the following picks:

• Quillan Salkilld Moneyline
• Yuneisy Duben Moneyline
• Djorden Santos Moneyline
• Seokhyeon Ko Moneyline

As a result of all of these outcomes hitting in the Parlay Bet, the DWCS bettor took home $1,924.62.

Week 5 of Dana White’s Contender Series airs on Tuesday, September 10 at 8:00 p.m. ET on ESPN+. This week features the DWCS return of former GLORY kickboxer Yousri Belgaroui.

Pereira has a history of becoming friends and training partners with former rivals. After knocking out Sean Strickland, Pereira developed a friendship with Strickland and began to train with him. Strickland made improvements to his striking game with the help of Pereira and eventually used these improvements to help fuel a run to the UFC middleweight title. Pereira has also recently taken Belgaroui under his wing--Belgaroui is now close friends with Pereira and trains with Pereira in Connecticut at Glover Teixeira's academy, Teixeira MMA & Fitness. Belgaroui has been in Pereira‘s corner for Pereira’s recent UFC title fights.

Belgaroui is huge for middleweight, standing 6’5”, and has an even bigger frame than Pereira, who was monstrously large for middleweight. Pereira's massive and lengthy frame gave him substantial advantages at middleweight, particularly with his range and distance management. Pereira used his length to stay outside of his opponents' striking range, where he could hit them from a distance that his opponents struggled to connect with him from. Belgaroui enjoys a similar range advantage at middleweight due to his frame and length.

Belgaroui's knee strikes are also impressive, and his height and long legs help him connect with these knee strikes to vulnerable areas. Seven of Belgaroui's career wins in MMA/kickboxing are via KO/TKO due to knee strikes, including his recent win in MMA over Giorgi Kvelidze. In MMA, Belgaroui's knee strikes give him a great weapon to attack opponents when they change levels to attempt a takedown. Belgaroui's long legs and substantial height advantage help his knees reach head level, even when opponents aren't changing levels for takedowns.

Belgaroui is not a newcomer to DWCS and fought on the show in 2023. Belgaroui had a poor showing and lost to Marco Tulio by decision. In that fight, Belgaroui got taken down twice and gave up over six minutes of control time. Belgaroui also got out-struck at distance, 37 to 32. However, there is reason to believe in a better showing from Belgaroui this year. Belgaroui was very sick with Lyme disease leading up to his DWCS fight last year and tried to postpone the fight to a later date. He said he was told a postponement wasn’t possible, so he elected to take a risk and fight compromised. Belgaroui said he quickly tired due to being on antibiotics and blamed the poor performance on his illness.

Belgaroui's opponent this year, Taiga Iwasaki, is 9-1 as a pro, but he does not exactly have a strong strength of schedule. Iwasaki only has one win over a fighter with a winning record. With Belgaroui healthy for this fight, he should be able to showcase his superior striking, win this fight by KO/TKO, and enter the UFC's middleweight division as an interesting potential contender.

Prediction: Yousri Belgaroui to win by KO/TKO

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All odds provided by DraftKings Sportsbook, lines and odds subject to change.