The mixed martial arts (MMA) fantasy website Kountermove is back with another exclusive game 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 tournament for MMAOddsBreaker.com readers, just click the link below: http://www.kountermove.com/join/45904-mma-oddsbreaker-50-rousey-vs-correia-fantasy-mma-freeroll-on-fantasy-mma-rousey-vs-correia-81-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 190 like Ronda Rousey ($6000) 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: Warlley Alves ($5000): After earning a controversial decision victory over Alan Jouban in his last bout, the UFC has seemingly pumped the breaks on Warlley Alves. Alves was the winner of The Ultimate Fighter Brazil season three and has a ton of hype behind him, so that’s why I think he’s an ideal candidate for a Kountermove team considering his upcoming opponent. Alves will be battling Nordine Taleb, an Ultimate Fighter washout who has managed to go 3-0 thus far in his UFC career with three decision wins. I expect Alves to have a big power advantage on the feet and his ground game is legit. As long as Alves is aggressive, he should put up some big points Underdog Pick of the Night Leandro Issa ($4300): Issa looked like a worldbeater in his last fight against Japanese prospect Ulka Sasaki. He hasn’t always looked great in the UFC (his first two fights were pretty uninspiring) but he seemingly put it all together once he had a chance to fight in his native Brazil (despite training in Asia). Now his opponent, Iuri Alcantara, is a very scary man for about three or four minutes, but if Alcantara can’t get a quick finish, he’s likely going to gas and leave an opening for Issa to take over with his solid ground game. It’s a bit of a longshot and could backfire if Alcantara finishes him quickly, but Issa provides you with a cheap enough price to fill out the rest of your team with some more reliable options. Fighter to Avoid Ronda Rousey ($6000): Before you call me crazy, I’m not saying Ronda won’t win. In fact, I expect her to absolutely obliterate Bethe Correia. The problem is her price. At $6000, she will cripple your team and you won’t have the remaining capital to fill out a solid enough roster. There are plenty of fighters on this card who are probably going to score first round finishes just like Ronda and you can get them at a much cheaper price which won’t force you to big risks on a bunch of huge underdogs. Complete UFC 190 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 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 13 total bouts this event: UFC 190 Preview
Thanks for reading and good luck!