This Saturday night, UFC 187 will be taking over the MGM Grand Garden Arena. The card features an exceptional line-up, chock full of intriguing fights. From the long-awaited bout between Chris Weidman and Vitor Belfort (keep your fingers crossed!), to the return of John Dodson, there's a little something for everyone to enjoy.
As usual, when there's a big PPV event, Crazy Aaron from Kountermove tends to get a swarm of bees in his bonnet, and he starts handing out free tourneys all willy-nilly. This one is no exception. Before we get to the nuts and bolts, I've done a main card preview for our readers. Hopefully, my humble offering can aid some of you in picking your winning teams.
Joseph Benavidez vs John Moraga
Kountermove Pricing: Benavidez $5300 / Moraga $4300
This fight might make for a decent scrap until Benavides decides he doesn't want to play with his food anymore. Outside Demetrious Johnson, Benavides and Dodson are the top dogs, and Moraga, while tough as nails and with the slight height advantage, will likely be on the losing end of a decision.
Verdict: Benavidez via UD
Travis Browne vs Andrei Arlovski
Kountermove Pricing: Browne $5200 / Arlovski $4400
This was a hard bout to choose a winner on. Arlovski is on a career upswing, and confidence is king in Pitbull-landia. He has an added advantage in that his coaches have intimate knowledge of Browne's strong points and his loopholes. The fan in me wants to pick Andrei in the worst way.
Browne has pretty devastating striking and decent ground game. The brutality with which he stopped Josh Barnett was violent poetry, and while Andrei is no slouch on the ground nor on the feet, I just can't pick with my heart this time.
Verdict: Browne via TKO
Donald Cerrone vs John Makdessi
Kountermove Pricing: Cerrone $4500 / Makdessi $4300
Height, reach and volume will be on Cerrone's side in this fight, along with a superior grappling game. Experience in fighting elite level opponents is also in Cowboy's favor. Try as I might, I can't find a way for Makdessi to win this fight outside Donald showing up blindfolded, and even then I'd still give it to him.
Verdict: Cerrone via manslaughter
Chris Weidman vs Vitor Belfort
Kountermove Pricing: Weidman $5500 / Belfort $5000
Young lion vs old-new-old-modified lion is the theme in this match-up. Both have very good striking and both have excellent grappling, but I give the edge to Weidman on the ground. Striking is a tossup, as we've seen both destroy elite caliber competition. The biggest consideration for this bout is inactivity and in my opinion, the younger fighter is likely to do better shaking off ring rust than the aging warrior.
Verdict: Chris Weidman via TKO
Anthony Johnson vs Daniel Cormier
Kountermove Pricing: Johnson $4800 / Cormier $5400
Holy hard to make a decision, Batman! I have gone back and forth on this fight so many times, I ended up taking out a lease on some prime real estate atop the fence I'm currently sitting on. Both have KO power, but I'd give the slight edge to Johnson here. Both have excellent grappling, with DC having the obvious edge. Cormier has proven himself time and again that he can hang with the best guys in the sport, and Johnson has done the same. When I am at an impasse with myself, I go to unconventional methods to make my pick. I flip my trusty replica Roman coin. Elephant says Cormier wins; a bunch of squiggly lines and symbols says Johnson wins.
Verdict: Daniel Cormier via UD
Now, for the good stuff, the free cash tourney. Before I link you guys, I wanted to give you some standard information about Kountermove.
Players use a $25,000 artificial salary cap to draft 5 fighters from the card before each event begins. Eachfighter has a salary designated by Kountermove -- salaries range from $3,000 to $8,000. The winners are determined based on how the fight plays out rather than simply a fight's outcome (pick'em format). Kountermove calculates a fighter's fantasy score based on the number of strikes, takedowns, submissions, dominant positions, and rounds won. Scoring data from the fights flows into the site in near real-time, so players can monitor their teams as the event happens. The data used in calculating a fighter's score is provided by UFC's official stats provider, FightMetric.
The site was started with the idea that MMA in general must market "up and coming" fighters to become a truly mainstream sport. "There are many great fighters out there that no one knows about because so much of marketing in MMA is geared toward the top fighters" said Aaron Ard, a co-founder of Kountermove.com, "we wanted to create a game that would create interest and engagement in preliminary fights as well as the headliners." Statistics are bearing this out; over 85% of Kountermove players' teams have at least one fighter competing on the preliminary card. No Kountermove player has won a major tournament without a preliminary card fighter on their team.
Here's the link to the $100 tourney:
You can follow Kountermove via their Twitter account, @Kountermove
Disclaimer: Kountermove is not an advertiser on Bloody Elbow, nor are we being paid to advertise the contest. They offered to provide Bloody Elbow readers with the free tournament and are fully responsible for the contest and any associated prize payouts.