UFC on FOX 22 staff picks: Who are we picking in some of the tightest betting lines of the year?

The UFC’s penultimate fight card of 2016 takes place Saturday in California’s state capital city and features some of the promotion’s young guns, as well as a retiring superstar.

UFC on FOX 22 takes place Saturday at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento. The main card airs on FOX following prelims on FS1 and UFC Fight Pass.

In the main event, Sacramento-based Paige VanZant (7-2 MMA, 4-1 UFC) takes on strawweight Michelle Waterson (13-4 MMA, 1-0 UFC). Although the oddsmakers have the fight essentially as a pick’em, VanZant is the choice of seven of our 10 MMAjunkie editors, writers and radio hosts.

In the co-feature, Mickey Gall (3-0 MMA, 2-0 UFC) takes on fellow young up-and-comer Sage Northcutt (8-1 MMA, 3-1 UFC) in a welterweight fight. It’s another bout the Vegas experts think could go either way, and our staff members are picking Gall at a 6-4 rate.

Also on the main card, Urijah Faber (33-10 MMA, 9-6 UFC) fights for the final time when he meets bantamweight Brad Pickett (25-12 MMA, 5-7 UFC). Faber put Sacramento on the map as far as MMA is concerned thanks to his Team Alpha Male gym. He’s the card’s heaviest favorite, and not surprisingly, he’s a unanimous pick with our staff.

And to open the main card, welterweight Alan Jouban (14-4 MMA, 5-2 UFC) meets unbeaten Mike Perry (9-0 MMA, 2-0 UFC). It’s another fight that Vegas has deemed a toss-up, but seven of our 10 staff members are taking Jouban, who has twice as much experience as Perry.

In the MMAjunkie reader consensus picks, VanZant, Gall, Faber and Perry are the choices – and the VanZant, Gall and Perry selections all are at a difference of only about a percentage point each.

Check out all the picks above.

And for more on UFC on FOX 22, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.