UFC 179 Kountermove Preview & Freeroll

After a three week UFC break, UFC 179 and the highly anticipated Aldo/Mendes rematch are finally here. In preparation for the fights on Saturday, we’ve got your regular KM breakdown including two picks I like and two I’m not so fond of. We’ve also got a freeroll game from the good folks over at Kountermove. Before we get to that, here’s a reminder from the founders of the site on how KM works and how fights are scored:

“About Kountermove.  Kountermove, Inc. is currently the world’s leading Fantasy MMA community. Kountermove is like fantasy football or baseball, but for MMA. Our founders, Aaron Ard and Brian Knapp, are Jiu-jitsu black belts and IBJJF competitors.

Pick your team of 5 fighters. You are given a “salary cap” of $25,000 in fantasy money to spend on drafting your team of fighters you expect to perform well/win.

Each fighter is assigned a price that is reflective of his or her respective odds. For example, in UFC 167: GSP cost $6,000, while Johny Hendricks cost $5,000. Since Hendricks is the underdog, he cost less than GSP.

Score Points and Win. Once the fight card begins, you accumulate points based on how well your picks performed.

Winners are determined by the most points earned – points are awarded: strikes landed, submission attempts, knockdowns, dominant positions, rounds won, and knockout or submission bonuses.

Fight statistics are provided by FightMetric LLC, the UFC’s official stats provider.”

Here are a few extra links to get you accustomed to how the site works and how performances are scored.

How it works

Scoring

Remember this is fantasy sports, so you’re not only trying to pick a winner but someone you think will finish the fight or rack up a ton of points on their way to a decision. Don’t have a Kountermove account? All it takes is about 30 seconds and an email address so don’t panic, you’ve still got time before the fights start.

Here are four quick tips for each event that will hopefully help you make some cash on Saturday:

1.   A mid-range priced fighter I’m leaning on pretty heavily with my KM teams is going to be Gilbert Burns ($5,000). I think Giagos will look good in some striking exchanges early on but I see Burns closing the distance towards the end of the first round or sometime in the second, getting the fight to the ground, and wasting no time getting the submission finish. If the fight does stay standing, Burns isn’t a total slouch on the feet having finished three of his 8 opponents so he’s good a good chance of getting you points wherever the fight takes place.

2.   A fighter I’m going to be staying away from at UFC 179 is going to be Darren Elkins ($4,500). Even though he’s a cheap pick with a decent chance at getting a win this weekend, he’s the type of fighter who’s likely either going to grind his way to victory or get finished in this situation. Neither of those two options is going to do you any favors with him on your Kountermove team.

3.   If you’re going to be spending some cash on one or more pricier fighters this weekend, which you probably are, you’re going to need a cheap pick to give your budget some breathing room. Out of the cheaper options this weekend I think William Macario ($4,300) is the best option. I think the fight goes to decision more often than not but if a finish comes I see it coming from the Brazilian. If the fight does go to a decision, I can see it being a lot closer than most people are predicting, especially in Macario’s home country of Brazil.

4.   Another fighter I’m going to be staying away from is Fabricio Camoes ($5,200). I think his fight with Tony Martin is actually the closest on the entire card, outside of maybe Jorgensen/Reis. Martin has 6 submissions in his 8 wins while Camoes has lost exactly half of his 8 losses by the same method. It’s a closer fight than I like and there are a number of other fighters who are more likely to finish their fights priced right around Camoes’ cost.

Joining the freeroll is as easy as following the link below!

Fightbooth’s UFC 179 Kountermove Freeroll

Good luck this weekend!

Questions? Suggestions? Give me a shout on twitter @BlackEyeBowtie

cover photo credit – Alexandre Loueiro/Inovafoto