UFC 174 staff picks: On close card, Demetrious Johnson lone unanimous nod

Demetrious Johnson is the heaviest favorite on Saturday’s UFC 174 card, and he’s the only fighter to get a unanimous nod from the MMAjunkie staff. But two other fighters came close on a highly competitive main card.

In the flyweight title headliner, champion Johnson (19-2-1 MMA, 7-1-1 UFC) is more than a 6-to-1 favorite against Ali Bagautinov (13-2 MMA, 3-0 UFC). All eight MMAjunkie writers and radio hosts believe he’ll defend his title for a fourth consecutive time. UFC 174 takes place at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, and the main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on FX and UFC Fight Pass.

In the co-main event, Rory MacDonald (16-2 MMA, 7-2 UFC) may be fighting on home soil, but it’s Tyron Woodley (13-2 MMA, 3-1 UFC) who has most of the support in our staff picks. Woodley gets the nod from seven of our eight pickers. The same is true for Ovince Saint Preux (15-5 MMA, 3-0 UFC) in his main-card opener against Canada’s Ryan Jimmo (19-3 MMA, 3-2 UFC).

In a light heavyweight bout, Ryan Bader (16-4 MMA, 9-4 UFC) is getting the edge over former Strikeforce champion Rafael Cavalcante (12-4 MMA, 1-1 UFC) with six votes of confidence. And former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski (21-10 MMA, 10-4 UFC) is back for the first time since 2008, and three of the eight believe he’ll pull off the mild upset of Brendan Schaub (10-3 MMA, 6-3 UFC).

Check out the full picks above.

Additionally, leave your main-card picks below. As usual, MMAjunkie reader “IAMMA” is organizing the MMAjunkie Member Picks, where “Shut_The_Fitch_Up” is our leader.

For the latest on UFC 174, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site.