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 $200 tournament for MMAOddsBreaker.com readers, just click the link below: https://www.kountermove.com/join/31830-fn-50-mma-oddsbreaker-200-tourney-on-ufc-fight-night-50-souza-vs-mousasi-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 its 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 50 like Alistair Overeem ($5800), 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: Charles Oliveira ($5200): If this fight ends up as a repeat of their last bout, then Oliveira is going to put up a massive score. I don’t expect that to happen this time around, however, as opponent Nik Lentz has switched camps to American Top Team and become a pretty decent threat in the featherweight division. Oliveira will have his hands full, but if anyone can finish Lentz, it’s “do Bronx.” Oliveira has only gone to decision one time in his 11-fight UFC career, so I don’t expect this fight to go the distance either. Hopefully that’s a good thing, because he’s capable of finishing this bout either with his wide array of submissions, or his solid knees up the middle as Lentz presses forward. Underdog Pick of the Night Chris Beal ($4800): This is another opportunity to take advantage of a short notice replacement. Beal is only $4800 due to having not one but two opponents changed on him. Now, the poor fate of Beal’s original opponents Rob Font and Dustin Kimura is your good fortune as the talented Ultimate Fighter season 18 veteran will be competing against Tateki Matsuda, a scrappy Japanese fighter who’s taking the bout on about 10 days’ notice. Beal has some serious power and he’s capable of landing heavy power strikes. Matsuda is going to be tough and hang in there, having never been finished in his career, but this could be an opportunity for Beal to put on a big showcase against the counter-striker. Fighter to Avoid Joe Lauzon ($5000): Lauzon has been a bonus hog in his UFC career, raking in a ridiculous amount of submission, knockout and “Fight of the Night” awards throughout his eight-year stint with the promotion. That’s a lot of damage taken over a long period of time and it’s finally starting to catch up to the Boston-native. Lauzon has slowed down significantly as of late, taking a serious beating in four of his last five fights, and only scoring an easy victory in his last bout against Mac Danzig, another fighter on his last legs who retired afterwards. I think Lauzon’s fight against Michael Chiesa will be a changing of the guard and I don’t expect him to put on a great show against the bigger, longer fighter. Complete UFC Fight Night 50 Preview If my fantasy preview isn’t enough for you, Fight Scientist Reed Kuhn, MMA Oddsmaker Nick Kalikas and myself did an extensive preview of the entire fight card on The Premium Oddscast, which was posted earlier this week. Feel free to check out our latest episode. There’s plenty of combinations for great teams with 10 total bouts for this event: UFC Fight Night 50 Preview
Thanks for reading and good luck!