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/31522-ufc-177-mma-oddsbreaker-200-tourney-on-ufc-177-dillashaw-vs-barao-2-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 177 like TJ Dillashaw ($5500), 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: Carlos Diego Ferreira ($5100): I really like Ferreira to not only win, but get another stoppage victory. His UFC debut was nothing short of magnificent, throwing TUF 17 winner Colton Smith to the canvas and instantly submitting him. I think he’ll have a tougher time against TUF 16 finalist Ramsey Nijem, but he still has the skills to pass this test with flying colors. Ferreira has elite Brazilian jiu-jitsu skills and Nijem has been caught in submissions before like in his fight against James Vick. Ferreira also has some decent power on the feet and we all know how susceptible Nijem’s chin is to getting hit by heavy strikes. As long as Ferreira stays within himself, he could be in for a big night. Underdog Pick of the Night Anthony Birchak ($4300): Despite his fight against Joe Soto being a near pick-em according to the UFC 177 betting odds, Anthony Birchak is getting absolutely zero respect from the folks at Kountermove. Birchak was hands down the most UFC-ready fighter on the MFC roster and he’s a welcome addition to the UFC bantamweight division. He should have a very competitive bout against Soto, a fighter who’s very talented but does not have a great chin. Birchak could definitely score a knockout here if he lands anything with conviction. He also had a tendency to turn fights into barnburners, which is always great for your Kountermove teams due to the high output of strikes. Even if Birchak doesn’t win, I don’t expect him to get dominated so he should still provide some nice points on a night where they could be hard to come by due to the pricing of fighters. Fighter to Avoid Ruan Potts ($4400): Potts is a heaavyweight out of South Africa and he proved in his UFC debut that he does not belong here, getting obliterated via ground and pound from Soa Palelei. I feel history could repeat itself against another hulking heavyweight in Anthony Hamilton, who is also looking to redeem himself from an uninspired UFC debut. While neither fighter is elite, Hamilton at least trains alongside the likes of Travis Browne, Jon Jones and Andrei Arlovski on a daily basis. I don’t see Potts putting much on the scoreboard before he’s put away in violent fashion again. Complete UFC 177 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 10total bouts for this event: UFC 177 Preview
Thanks for reading and good luck!