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/27720-ufc-174-mma-oddsbreaker-250-tourney-on-ufc-174-johnson-vs-bagautinov-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 174 like Demetrious Johnson ($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: Kajan Johnson ($4900): This isn’t exactly a pick of Kajan Johnson as it is a fade on his opponent Tae Hyun Bang. Bang is a stand-up fighter with solid power and that’s pretty much it. If Bang doesn’t connect with a big single shot against Johnson, he’s going to either get outworked on the feet, outclinched against the cage or outwrestled and potentially submitted. Bang simply isn’t a very good fighter and it showed in his UFC debut. The lone concern here is Johnson’s chin, as he’s been knocked out multiple times in his career included a brutal KO defeat during The Ultimate Fighter Nations this past year. As long as Johnson avoids Bang’s heavy hands, he should be in great shape. Underdog Pick of the Night Michinori Tanaka ($4600): Tanaka is one of the top Japanese prospects that has yet to make his UFC debut. A talented striker and grappler with five-round championship fight experience, the youngster should bring a ton of energy into his bout against the considerably slower Roland Delorme. Look for Tanaka to dance circles around Delorme with his footwork inside the Octagon and to potentially even have a grappling edge. The only concern is whether or not he takes too many risks and finds himself in a bad position against the UFC veteran. Hopefully he’s smarter than that and has learned from some negative prior experience to remain undefeated. Fighter to Avoid Yves Jabouin ($4900): At one time, Jabouin was considered a rising contender in the UFC bantamweight division after he dropped down from 145 pounds. But that seems ages ago and in the last few years, Jabouin has aged drastically inside the Octagon. What once was a pretty solid chin has deteriorated immensely and “Tiger’s” scary striking has become much less intimidating. Jabouin is on a serious decline and he might be in some serious trouble against Mike Easton, a hungry fighter with a ton to prove. Jabouin might have a decent start to this fight, but look for him to fall off quickly in the second round if not earlier and pay for it dearly. Complete UFC 174 Finale 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 11 total bouts for this event: UFC 174 Preview
Thanks for reading and good luck!