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/37012-fn-59-mma-oddsbreaker-200-tourney-on-ufc-fight-night-59-mcgregor-vs-siver-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 59 like Conor McGregor ($6200) 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: Chris Wade ($5300): Wade is a terrific prospect in the UFC lightweight division. He made a very impressive UFC debut with a first round guillotine choke submission late last year and now he’s facing a fighter in Zhang Lipeng, who in my opinion, is actually a step down in competition level. Wade is going to hold a huge edge in terms of wrestling and submissions and I would be very surprised if he didn’t take Lipeng down immediately and start working him over on the canvas. This fight should be a blowout and I’m all aboard the Wade train. Choo Choo! Underdog Pick of the Night Charles Rosa ($4800): Rosa made a nice splash in the UFC featherweight division when he battled Dennis Siver on five days’ notice last year. Now, with a full training camp to prepare, he’s set to make a big impact against fellow prospect Sean Soriano. Rosa has a huge advantage on the ground and he should be able to hold his own from distance on the feet with his karate stance and wide assortment of kicks. The only concern is if he allows Soriano to get inside and land big knees and elbows. Conditioning is Rosa’s strength as well, and he should have a cardio advantage if this fight leaves the first round. This Kountermove card has some of the most difficult pricing of any event in recent memory, and Rosa’s $4800 is actually the cheapest fighter I’m going to have on my teams. Fighter to Avoid John Howard ($4600): My problem with Howard is his tendency for inactivity. Howard has a bit of power and he’s scored some upsets in the UFC before, but it’s been a very long time since he’s had a good Kountermove performance. All four of his UFC fights in his current run have been ugly, and none were uglier than his last fight, a controversial decision loss to Brian Ebersole where Howard completely failed to pull the trigger. Howard is fighting the significantly bigger, quicker and more dynamic Lorenz Larkin tomorrow night and I feel he’s going to be outgunned. The only way he wins is if he grinds the fight to a halt with takedown attempts and pushing Larkin into the fence. That’s not a recipe for a good Kountermove score. Complete UFC Fight Night 59 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 12 total bouts this event: UFC Fight Night 59 Preview
Thanks for reading and good luck!