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Guess who's back again, Maniacs?
While I may be gone as a regular writer, I'm not going to take with me an opportunity for you to win free money. Expect a preview article and a tournament for every major show!
The mixed martial arts (MMA) fantasy website Kountermove is back with another freeroll for MMAmania.com readers. If you're not familiar with how the site works, here's a brief snippet from the site owners, themselves.
"Kountermove brings the traditional fantasy format to MMA. Accumulation of points and a salary cap make fantasy MMA more intriguing than your basic "pick 'em" contest. With other industry pros on the site it is the place to be if you know your MMA.
The game is fairly simple on its face, games are played over a single night during one event. Prior to the event, players get a total of $25,000 fantasy dollars to pick five fighters for your team. Each fighter is given a specific salary by Kountermove. Kountermove assigns a value for each fighter based on how we believe the fight will go.
Points are scored if a fighter scores a finish, wins a round, lands significant strikes, knocks an opponent down, scores takedowns, secures dominant positions or attempts submissions. The more dominant your fighters'performance, the more points you're going to score. If you score more points than your opponents, then you win the money."
To enter the free $250 tournament for MMAmania.com readers, just click the link below:
If you don't have an account, don't worry, you can create one for free, but do it quickly, spacing is limited!
If you're interested in a few pointers on potential fighters to pick, I'll be offering my analysis and potential picks to click. In case you have your doubts, I have a very nice track record of success with the website, having won plenty since it's inception
Before I get to my picks, remember that to get the best value out of your team, you have to try to get an average of $5000 per fighter with your team of five fighters and your $25,000 salary cap. That means if you want to pick a big favorite from UFC Fight Night 29 like Demian Maia ($5500), you have to balance it out by picking some underdogs that you think will perform above and beyond. Sometimes it's not worth it to pick the overwhelming favorite.
Without further ado, here are some of the picks that stand out for me:
Mike Pierce ($4900): Sure, there's always the fear that Pierce could wall and stall his way to a boring three round decision victory, but I feel the risk is worth the reward. Pierce has shown some serious knockout power, scoring big finishes in two of his last three fights and he's facing an opponent in Rousimar Palhares who has a bad reputation for getting knocked out. Palhares fades badly the second he gets hit hard so if Pierce can avoid the leg locks (and I think he will), a knockout win is a very high probability.
Underdog Pick of the Night
Garett Whiteley ($4200): Whitely is making his UFC debut and he hasn't faced stellar competition, but you can say the exact same thing about his Brazilian opponent Alan Patrick. Both men are wildcards and while Patrick holds a hometown advantage, Whitely's 10-0 record is nothing to sneer at and he should have a striking advantage over his lightweight foe. At $4200, he's worth a shot, especially if you're looking to add a heavy favorite with guaranteed points to your team.
Fighter to Avoid
Jake Shields ($4900): You might think because he comes at a slight discount and that his fight is scheduled for five rounds makes Shields a tempting pick, but you'd be dead wrong. Shields is on a three-fight winning streak but has done nothing noteworthy in the fantasy realm. His last bout in particular was exceptionally awful, clinching and stalling against Tyron Woodley for three straight rounds while picking up a razor thin decision. He won't get many points for rounds won, strikes landed, takedowns or submission attempts. Everything he seems to utilize in a bout doesn't score any points so avoid him like the plague.
Thanks for reading and good luck!
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