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/29568-fn-45-mma-oddsbreaker-250-tourney-on-ufc-fight-night-45-cerrone-vs-miller-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 45 like Claudia Gadelha ($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: Rick Story ($5400): While he hasn’t been quite the fighter he once was, Story is still a solid welterweight. He’ll be stepping into the Octagon opposite Leonardo Mafra, a fighter who went 0-1 in his first UFC stint, losing via TKO to a fighter who hasn’t won in the UFC since. Mafra is more of a striker and will likely only be able to win via knockout, but Story hasn’t been finished via strikes in his entire mixed martial arts career. Look for Story to wear Mafra down along the clinch, secure some takedowns and potentially finish this fight late. On paper at least, it’s a huge mismatch. Underdog Pick of the Night Aljamain Sterling ($4500): Sterling is a very promising prospect on the rise. Training out of the Serra-Longo gym, he possesses solid wrestling, top control and scrambles well. He’ll have to be on the lookout for Hugo Viana’s overhand punches, but as long as he avoids getting knocked senseless on the feet, he should be able to outlast Viana’s stand-up skills and eventually secure some takedowns. I’m not saying Sterling is going to be a huge point-scorer here, because he will probably ride out top position to a decision if he wins, but he should give you the cap room to pick up those big favorites you desire. Fighter to Avoid Jessamyn Duke ($5000): Considering her immense size (5’11), you should think Duke would have learned to use her reach better. That wasn’t not the case in her most recent fight against Bethe Correia, where she was pressured and pummeled over the course of three rounds. I think unless she’s made great strides in her stand-up, history will repeat itself on Wednesday night against Leslie Smith, a fighter even more aggressive than Correira who will be forcing Duke to back up for potentially three straight rounds. Complete TUF 19 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 Fight Night 45 Preview
Thanks for reading and good luck!