San Francisco, CA. – January 4, 2012 – The Kountermove fantasy MMA movement continued to display strong momentum over the holiday weekend, drawing the attention of thousands of MMA fans, fighters and key media players. The site gained a significant number of new members leading up to UFC® 141. Kountermove members completed a total of 1,850 game entries and competed for $5,700 in cash prizes.
UFC® 141’s most valuable Kountermove fantasy fighter was Nate Diaz who scored 149 fantasy points for a salary of $3,900. Jim Hettes and Alistair Overeem were also very good draft choices, with Hettes chalking up 116.5 fantasy points for a salary of $3,300 and Overeem, 112.5 points for a salary of $5,800. The least valuable UFC® 141 Kountermove fantasy fighter was Jon Fitch. Fitch cost Kountermove players $6,200 but yielded zero points.
The best possible Kountermove fantasy team that a player could draft for UFC® 141 under the $25,000 salary cap was Alistair Overeem, Nate Diaz, Johny Hendricks, Alexander Gustafsson, and Jim Hettes.
Congrats to Kountermove member E-LoGic who scored 563 points, the highest total fantasy points in an entry fee game for UFC 141 with Dong Hyun Kim (77), Nate Diaz (149), Alistair Overeem (112.5), Jim Hettes (116.5) and Alexander Gustafsson (108).
Randy “The Natural” Couture, who finished a respectable 13th out of 22 players in Kountermove’s first ever MMA Media Knockout Invitational tournament for UFC® 141, had this to say about fantasy MMA.
“Fantasy MMA is fun for fans; Kountermove makes watching MMA events with their friends even more fun and exciting. Kountermove fantasy MMA is also important for fighters, especially up-and-coming fighters. Fans get to know these fighters better by drafting them on their Kountermove fantasy teams. The Kountermove experience is much more than ‘pick a winner’ type involvement for players.”
Brian Hemminger (@gotahemmi) of MMAMania.com was the MMA Media Knockout Invitational tournament champion. Brian amassed 534 fantasy points on the road to victory with his team of fighters – Alistair Overeem, Nate Diaz, Alexander Gustafsson, Ross Pearson, and Jim Hettes. Damon Martin (@damonmartin) of MMAWeekly.com came in a strong second, with 455.5 fantasy points.
Brian Hemminger of MMAMania.com had this to say about his experience on Kountermove, “Kountermove goes above and beyond the current MMA fantasy options. It forces you to take a deeper look at every match up, strategically pick the most viable upsets and not only pick who you think will win, but how badly. With real time updating of statistics and points, Kountermove kept me on my toes until the final fight of the night.”
Damon Martin, host of MMAWeekly Radio had this to add, “Kountermove added a really cool experience to UFC 141. It was fun watching every fight and as an added bonus the results helped get my Kountermove team closer and closer to a victory. Best part is, I won some money and got a few bragging rights as well. Great experience and I will be back to claim the title!”
Rounding out the top five money winners in the MMA Media Knockout Invitational was Kountermove’s very own ‘Math Class Teacher’, Caitlin McNally (@caitlinmcn), Denny Hodge of ProMMAnow.com (@ProMMAnowDenny), and Matt Manzella of CageReligion.com (@cagereligion).
Kountermove’s fantasy MMA games work very similar to fantasy football. Members draft a team of fighters and compete with that team against other Kountermove players in their league. Members have a $25,000 “salary cap” when drafting their fantasy team of fighters, each fighter has a “salary” designated by Kountermove. Members choose from free or entry fee games of varying sizes.
Winners and losers are then determined by fantasy points earned based on each fighter’s performance – strikes landed, submission attempts, knockdowns, dominant positions, rounds won, and knockout or submission bonuses.
After each event, Kountermove updates game results by listing the points members received for that event, the rankings, and prize pool winners. All entry fees are added into a prize pool that is divided among the league’s winners at the end of the game. Visit www.kountermove.com for full details on the Kountermove fantasy MMA scoring system.
