The mixed martial arts (MMA) fantasy website Kountermove is back with another freeroll for MMAOddsBreaker.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 MMAOddsBreaker.com readers, just click the link below: https://www.kountermove.com/join/19542-ufc-on-fox-9-mma-oddsbreaker-250-tourney-on-ufc-on-fox-9-T-free/ 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 on Fox 9 like Edson Barbosa ($5600), 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: Chad Mendes ($5600): Considering Mendes is a 9-1 betting favorite (and climbing) at the time of this posting, Mendes is an absolute steal at $5600. Look for the Team Alpha Male fighter to live up to his “Money” nickname, just as he’s done in his past four fights where he’s scored four impressive knockouts. Mendes has upcoming opponent Nick Lentz beat in all the intangible categories like power, speed and explosiveness. Lentz might have success if he can slow the pace of the fight down and try to grind it out with his slight height and reach advantage, but I just don’t see it happening due to Lentz’ lack of speed. Mendes should be able to blister Lentz on the feet, and a finish is very probable considering much less powerful strikers like Evan Dunham and Charles Oliveira have both put “The Carnie” in a world of hurt at lightweight. Underdog Pick of the Night Ryan LaFlare ($4800): This is a bit of a risk considering LaFlare is taking this fight on short notice to take on a pretty talented guy in Court McGee, but I like his intangibles too much. LaFlare is an excellent athlete and while he’s a wrestling-based fighter, he’s actually very aggressive once he gets his opponents on the canvas, looking to pass guard and gain dominant positions while dropping punches, elbows and knees consistently. If he can get McGee on the canvas, he’s going to start racking up big points. Even on the feet, he’s far from a fish out of the water, throwing solid leg kicks and pretty respectable punches while displaying good striking defense and overall movement. LaFlare is only going to get better with time, and as long as he doesn’t let McGee stand in front of him and throw 300 punches in three rounds, he could definitely help your team out. Fighter to Avoid Roger Bowling ($4900): Bowling does have a decent chance of scoring a first round stoppage for big points, but the risk isn’t worth the reward. Bowling is a powerful guy, but his gas tank only lasts for about seven or eight minutes and he fades pretty badly. If he doesn’t get a first round knockout, he’s going to potentially lose a decision or get stopped. He’s just far too inconsistent and unreliable at this point in his career to trust on your team. Be very careful with him. Thanks for reading and good luck!