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/32165-fn-51-mma-oddsbreaker-200-tourney-on-ufc-fight-night-51-silva-vs-arlovski-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 51 like Antonio Silva ($5800), 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: Godofredo Pepey ($5000): What I like about Pepey here isn’t actually Pepey himself, it’s that he’s facing Dashon Johnson. Johnson is a powerful boxer, but still has a long way to go to fully round out his game and become a complete mixed martial artist. I don’t feel his submission defense is up to snuff to the point and if Pepey locks him up in something, it’ll only be a matter of time until the bout is finished. Johnson is also dropping down to featherweight for this fight in hostile territory so there’s going to be a ton of pressure on him to perform while Pepey will have a significant amount of fan support in Brasilia. Pepey also has some decent kicks and showcased a vicious flying knee in his last fight against Noad Lahat so I think he’ll be in good shape here. Underdog Pick of the Night Larissa Moreira Pacheco ($4100): Pacheco is a very talented female bantamweight prospect. She enters the UFC after claiming the Jungle Fights women’s 135 pound title and not only is she undefeated, she’s also finished every opponent she’s ever faced. That includes Irena Aldana, who you might remember from her first round destruction of Peggy Morgan at Invicta FC 8 last weekend. Pacheco has very good power standing for a female fighter and isn’t afraid to throw leather. Just 20 years old, she has a ton of potential and she’ll have a size advantage against Jessica Andrade. The only serious concern here is whether or not she gets stuck on the canvas because while Pacheco has some solid grappling skills, her biggest weakness right now is that she gives up position far too often to go for submissions. Fighter to Avoid Paulo Thiago ($4700): Sam the Eagle used to be one of my favorite welterweights to watch compete back when he was finishing the likes of Mike Swick and Josh Koscheck, but that was a long, long time ago. Thiago hasn’t been very competitive as of late as age has begun to catch up to him. Thiago’s chin isn’t what it once was and he’s clearly lost a step, losing six of his last eight bouts. He was moving in slow motion against Gasan Amalatov this past May and it’s highly unlikely he’s going to get much faster as his career progresses. This might be the last time we see Thiago compete inside the Octagon so don’t risk it by putting him on your team. Complete UFC Fight Night 51 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 51 Preview
Thanks for reading and good luck!