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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 165 like Jon Jones ($6300), 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:
Khabib Nurmagomedov ($5200): The wily Russian set a UFC record for takedowns in his last fight, notching a ridiculous 21 against Abel Trujillo, a fighter with a decent wrestling background. Nurmagomedov is tenacious, going pedal to the metal from start to stop and if any fighter could potentially break Pat Healy's will, it might be him. As good and durable as Healy is, he's susceptible to the takedown so don't be surprised if Nurmagomedov tests his guard game in this fight. If he puts in a performance like he did against Trujillo or Thiago Tavares in his last two fights, he's a "must have" on your team.
Underdog Pick of the Night
Francis Carmont ($4200): This one is a bit of a risk as I feel Carmont is slightly overrated, but this upcoming fight against Costa Philippou is actually a solid stylistic match-up for him. Carmont is very hit-or-miss, and while he's 5-0 in UFC matches thus far, his last two outings have not been big point-scoring endeavors. That being said, he's extremely cheap and I think he might be able to at least pull out a split decision victory against Philippou, who was well on his way to losing to Tim Boetsch in his last fight before a string of awful luck for "The Barbarian" helped him get a late stoppage. Having Carmont on your team will open up opportunities to grab a heavy favorite like Renan Barao if you think his point-scoring potential could make the difference for your team.
Fighter to Avoid
Brendan Schaub ($4600): At a cheap price, Schaub may be enticing, but I'm not a big fan of this play whatsoever. Schaub's last three Kountermove appearances have been disasters, suffering two knockout losses in the first round and then lay-and-praying Lavar Johnson of all people in his last bout. For this fight against Matt Mitrione, Schaub is either going to get blasted early or he's going to dry hump his way to a boring inactive decision reminiscent of his last fight. Neither are big scoring outcomes.
Thanks for reading and good luck!
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