UFL Best Bets: Week 6 Picks

Now officially 50% through the 2026 UFL regular season, we also got an announcement from the league that the 2026 UFL Championship Game, now deemed the "United Bowl," will be held at Audi Field on Saturday, June 13th.

It still seems problematic to have the game at the venue of a team that might not be participating, but the Audi faithful are strong Spring Football supporters, and let's be honest--the Defenders are a lot more likely to be involved in the UFL Championship again this year than St. Louis was in the years that the Battledome played host.

So, if you really can't find a more neutral, central location, Audi Field seems like one of the next best options. However, I am still of the strong opinion that they should play the Championship Game at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton, Ohio.

It was another miserable week for the once proud Birmingham Stallions franchise and fanbase, but at least 1) they scored more than zero points, and 2) Dorian Thompson-Robinson played fantastically, which has to keep a little bit of the hope alive. To see them at the bottom of the standings and in an attendance feud with Mike Repole is just mind-blowing.

Basically, we have the four teams we expected in the top-4 and currently positioned for the playoffs, just not necessarily in the order we expected a couple of weeks ago, with the two teams right outside at 2-3 being the two squads I figured the least likely out of the bottom 50% of the UFL to be there just a week or two ago, and right after Columbus looked to have totally locked in with their offensive identity.

The Power Rankings are wild and so many of the top players up to this point either didn't play or didn't play well in Week 5--so rather than do another edition of the MVP ladder, I just gave out some mid-season awards, and we'll get this figured out again by next week.

It's been more of a circus this week for the UFL than I've even realized. The NFL Draft left a lot of recent college players looking for a landing spot--including Heisman runner-up Diego Pavia--and that brought a slew of ignorant takes and viewpoints from folks who neither follow nor understand Spring Football.

There was also some discussion about future expansion and what cities could be next for a UFL franchise. I've always supported the ideas of Salt Lake City and Portland, and I am firm on the notion that they need to revive the Seattle Sea Dragons--but there are several organizations in the history of Spring Football that have a case for revival.

Oklahoma City is already on the way, and the league has tossed around the idea of cities like Omaha and several smaller southwestern cities in New Mexico and Texas. All could be great ideas--but for the love of God--stick to a few rules:

1) Smaller (in between arena football/college towns and large cities?) markets, 2) with quality, intimate venues, 3) THAT DON'T ALREADY HAVE NFL TEAMS THEY SUPPORT.

This is an area I actually trust Mike Repole to handle well--like the WNBA has. Attendance has been constantly prioritized by this regime from Day 1.

So, with that: check out my various bets, DraftKings lineups, Power Rankings, and Mid-Season Honors below, and let's talk about what might happen in these Week 6 UFL matchups.

Week 6 Power Rankings:

1. D.C. Defenders

2. St. Louis Battlehawks

3. Orlando Storm

4. Dallas Renegades

5. Louisville Kings

6. Houston Gamblers

7. Columbus Aviators

8. Birmingham Stallions

Mid-Season OPOY: Jashaun Corbin (ORL)

Mid-Season DPOY: Cam Gill/Malik Fisher/Keshawn Banks/Shaun Wade/Jordan Mosley (LOU/HOU/ORL/DAL/STL)

Mid-Season Coach of the Year: Shannon Harris/Ricky Proehl (D.C./STL)

Mid-Season Special Teams Awards: Kicker - Tanner Brown (LOU), Punter - Brad Robbins (COL), KR - Lawrence Keys III (HOU), PR - Antwane Wells (COL)

Week 6 Picks

St. Louis Battlehawks at Louisville Kings (Thursday, April 30th, at 8PM ET)

Battlehawks -3.5, O/U 45.5, -198/+164 ML

Both of these teams are coming off of big weeks. The Battlehawks have now tested their metal with dubs over the Defenders and Storm, who have a combined record of 8-2, and the new-look Kings just smacked the Renegades around on the road, improving to 2-3 with a 47-25 win.

Louisville now finds themselves just a game behind Dallas and St. Louis in the UFL standings--what a difference a week (and a weird trade) makes. Chandler Rogers was exactly as advertised: nothing crazy, nothing spectacular, but cool, calm, collected, and consistent.

Chris Redman was FINALLY able to get the running game going too. Former NFL 1,000-yard rusher James Robinson netted 63 yards on 13 carries with an 18-yard reception, and Ian Wheeler came out of nowhere for 62 yards on 13 carries with 4 TD. As a team (including C. Rogers), they ran for 147 yards on 29 tries (5.1 Y/C) with consistent production, as nobody had a run longer than 12-16 yards.

The defense was excellent too--they forced UFL passing leader Austin Reed into throwing 4 INT and completing just 50% of his passes (Corey Mayfield Jr.: 2 INT, 3 PBUs), and the Renegades RB combo of Dae Dae Hunter and Ellis Merriweather were held to a stagnant 3.25 Y/C on 28 attempts.

Also noteworthy, K Tanner Brown leads the league right now with 14 made FG in 15 tries with a long of 59 yards.

The Battlehawks on the other hand went into Orlando and made a statement. The defense shut down the usually efficient machine of the Storm's offense, and Harrison Frost produced at a much better level despite still throwing the two interceptions. At their best, the Battlehawks can play like the best team in the UFL.

It's still hard to project where these Louisville Kings are going to be week in and week out, so I don't know if I'm leaning one way too hard on this spread, but I still like the Battlehawks to get the win--even on the road. But, I could see this Louisville defense giving Harrison Frost real issues and turning that into points on the other end.

I see this as being a final score between 21-17 to 30-25, so I guess I lean slightly over and slightly towards -3.5.

Houston Gamblers at Columbus Aviators (Friday, May 1st, at 8PM ET)

Aviators -5.5, O/U 45.5, -265/+215 ML

This is now down to Aviators -3, so I am quite pleased to have gotten Houston +5.5 early in the week. Obviously, both of these teams played last week in Houston--Nolan Henderson wasn't great, but he wasn't horrific, and the same can be said for the Gamblers' run game overall.

For Columbus, they did almost exactly what they usually do--except they had a few blunders in good field position that prevented them from putting more points on the board. Jalan McClendon, Zaquandre White, Toa Taua, and Alize Mack otherwise put up very familiar numbers.

I have more confidence in Houston's defense play-makers and probably their special teams weapons in a given week, but I have a lot more confidence in the consistency of the Aviator's offense, and especially in the quality environment of Historic Crew Stadium in Columbus, I think they should put up more than their 13 points from last week.

As far as the spread goes--Gamblers +5.5 felt crazy at the beginning of the week, but Columbus -3 makes a lot more sense, and it's another one this week that I don't feel too strongly about one way or another. I do think that the current Aviators ML of -185 is logical and can be used in a variety of ways.

Point blank, I don't think Columbus drops two in a row to Houston. I see a final score range of 17-13 to 25-22, so I probably lean towards Columbus to cover three points and towards under 45.5.

Dallas Renegades at D.C. Defenders (Saturday, May 2nd, at 12:00PM ET)

Defenders -2.5, O/U 47.5, -162/+136 ML

Has the league figured out the Dallas Renegades? That's been known to happen with the high-paced, pass-heavy, some could say gimmicky offenses of Spring Football. Over the last two weeks, they've been outscored 75-39 in back-to-back losses to the Columbus Aviators and Louisville Kings--not a great projection.

They got torn up by both running games, and maybe more concerningly, Austin Reed only completed 27 of 55 passes over those two games with a combined five interceptions. Dae Dae Hunter has also kind of been feast or famine out of the backfield, and the defense certainly hasn't kept pace with two of the worst teams in the UFL over this two-game skid.

Those are all bad things to hear when your next game is against the D.C. Defenders at Audi Field.

The Defenders have been playing like the true defending champions and the best team in the UFL since their hangover Week 1 loss to the Battlehawks. The defense has remained stout, they've been able to get rushing production from varying sources week to week, and Jordan Ta'amu has actually started passing like the highly-accolated Spring Football veteran we've watched for years.

I don't think the Renegades will fully sputter for the rest of the regular season, but I do think they clearly have some things to figure out and tweak if they're going to be a legitimate threat in the postseason. On the other hand, if the playoffs started tomorrow, it'd be hard to imagine anyone giving D.C. a true challenge on the way to playing for the UFL Championship in their home stadium.

I see a wide possible final score range of 22-14 to 28-20 to 35-24 in favor of the Defenders, so I'd absolutely take them to cover, their ML is good, and I suppose I favor the over, though that will be more up to the Renegades than anyone else.

Birmingham Stallions at Orlando Storm (Sunday, May 3rd, at 4PM ET)

Storm -6, O/U 44.5, -270/+220 ML

The Storm took their first loss of the season last week in a coach's grudge match with the Battlehawks. The Battlehawks defense forced Orlando's top play-makers into easily their worst outing of the year, with inefficient evenings from Jack Plummer and Jashaun Corbin.

Things got worse for the Birmingham Stallions last week, losing to D.C. 45-28 at home and falling to a once unthinkable 1-4 record at the bottom of the standings. There was a silver lining though: fishy trade acquisition Dorian Thompson-Robinson, my preseason MVP pick, finally got a start now that he's a Stallion, and had himself the kind of game we all imagined when he signed with the league.

DTR threw for 313 yards, 2 TD, and 2 INT on 28-43 passing, and also ran for 43 yards and a TD on four tries. Five Birmingham pass-catchers caught for 30 yards or more, with Jaydon Mickens going for 107 yards on 9 receptions. Their RBs had a way better day receiving than they did running--which is still a red flag with A.J. McCarron struggling to adjust to his new duties as head coach.

I'm not ready to say that Birmingham beats anyone until further notice, but DTR is such a significant addition that it definitely changes my outlook. Jack Plummer and Jashaun Corbin have been super steady for the Storm, but DTR possesses a different level of offensive firepower--he is capable of carrying an offense on his shoulders more than maybe any other player in the UFL.

Like I said, I still have to think that Orlando gets the win here, but six points is a lot to cover as DTR gets increasingly comfortable as QB1 for his new team. This is the ML favorite I'm the most iffy on, but I could see a final score range of 21-18 to 28-26. I say with baited breath that the Storm will take a close game, and I think the over just hits.

Parlay of the Week: Battlehawks ML + Gamblers +5.5 + Defenders ML + Storm ML = +551

-          Brady Grove