‘UFC Fight Night Japan’ Kountermove Preview

The UFC returns to Japan this weekend with Fight Night 75 in Saitama, Japan headlined by a heavyweight matchup between Josh Barnett and Roy Nelson. The main card also features a middleweight bout between Gegard Mousasi and Uriah Hall and the finals of the ‘Road to UFC: Japan’ reality series. To get you ready for the fights on Saturday, we’ve got your regular Kountermove breakdown including two picks I like and a fight I’m staying away from. Before we get down to business, here’s a reminder from the founders of the site on how KM works and how fights are scored for anyone who’s new to the game:

“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 three quick tips for the event that will hopefully help you make some cash on Saturday:

1.   My top pick for this event is going to be Diego Brandao ($5,100) in his featherweight bout with Katsunori Kikuno. I think Brandao will be able to figure out Kikuno’s unorthodox style pretty early on and will be able to win a majority of the exchanges wherever the fight takes place early on. If the fight makes it out of the first two rounds it may become close assuming Brandao starts to slow down, but I don’t see it lasting that long. I think Brandao will be able to win the striking exchanges on the feet early in the fight before taking the fight to the mat and getting a finish. For just over the average price tag you have for each fighter Brandao will be worth a spot of your team with his combination of strikes, grappling, and a potential finish.

2.   A cheap pick I like for this weekend’s event in Japan is Keita Nakamura ($4,200). This is mostly a value pick (with Nakamura being the cheapest pick of the night) but also a pick I don’t see getting finished. If you want some of the more expensive fighters on the card you’re going to need an inexpensive pick and Nakamura is the one I see getting blown out less often. “K-Taro” is also comes with 21 finishes in 30 fights and is an accomplished grappler so a submission finish for the UFC newcomer isn’t completely out of the question. The low price tag and chance for a finish makes Nakamura the top cheap pick for the event this weekend and can leave you some room in your budget if you’re taking some more expensive fighters.

3.   A pick I’m staying away from is going to be Nick Hein ($5,200) who’s taking on UFC debutant Yusuke Kasuya. Hein should be able to take this fight without too much trouble but I just don’t see him finding a finish often enough to be worth $5,200. I see Hein working a combination of power punching and multiple takedowns to take a decision win but Lasuya is an opportunistic grappler who won’t hesitate if there’s an opportunity for a submission. This is a fight where I see Hein either winning by decision or getting caught on the mat which isn’t at all the type of fighter I want on my Kountermove team. There are better options for around the same price elsewhere on the card.

Good luck this weekend!

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