The start of the New Year is a perfect time to try new ideas and embrace new adventures and that is exactly what DraftKings is doing to kick off 2015 with the introduction of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) daily fantasy sports. In the ever growing and highly competitive daily fantasy sports space companies are now more then ever looking for ways to differentiate themselves from the competition and the debut of MMA is allowing the player popular Draft Kings to do just that. As one of the first daily fantasy sports sites ever to offer Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) as a playing option Draft Kings is positioning themselves once again to be a daily fantasy sports industry leader and innovator. Lets review some of the opening day characteristics of DraftKings Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) to get a better feel for what is to come for this new exciting and intriguing daily fantasy sports game type.

DraftKings Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) Daily Fantasy Sports Scoring

At first glance the scoring and lineup system for DraftKings daily fantasy sports Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) is simple, straightforward and reasonable. While limiting the depth and breadth of scoring options reduces the variance of event it could be beneficial for new sport releases while statistics are studied and kinks ironed out. In each MMA daily fantasy sports event players are given a fixed salary cap of $50,000 that is available to draft a 5-fighter lineup. The scoring glossary and summary include SS – Significant Strike (+.05 points), ADVC – Advance (+1 points), TD – Takedown (+2 points), REV – Reversal Sweep (+2 points), KD – Knockdown (+3 points), 1rW+ – 1st Round Win (+100 points), 2rW+ – 2nd Round Win (+70 points), 3rW+ – 3rd Round Win (+50 points), 4rW+ – 4th Round Win (+40 points), 5rW+ – 5th Round Win (+40 points), WBD+ – Decision Win (+25 points) making it very easy to decipher where points are coming from. Some of the more complex terms are defined as 1. Significant Strikes are any Distance, Clinch, or Ground Strikes considered “Power Strikes” and 2. Advances include Half Guard, Side Control, Mount, and Back Control. The scoring follows official MMA scoring and rules so there is little discrepancy between live event points and there translation into lineups. It seems improvements could be made in all places where the scores are equal. TD and REV should be the same and 4rW and 5rW should also not be the same. It also seems the distance between points in 1rW versus everything else is too large. Since this was only the first appearance of MMA it will be interesting to see how the scoring advances and changes over time to improve the MMA daily fantasy sports.

DraftKings Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) Daily Fantasy Sports Debut Winning Lineup

The complete 5 fighter winning lineup breakdown is below and there are some notable points of interest. The first interesting note is that the whole winning lineup scorecard did not have one single instance of an Advance (ADVC) or a Reversal Sweep (REV). Given the scoring are already extremely limited that two of the options were not even exercised at anytime. This seems to indicate that scoring need to be expanded or re-defined in some way. A second DraftKings daily fantasy sports Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) lineup scoring curiosity is the point value to actual scoring marks ration between Significant Strikes (SS) and all other technique scoring options. One surprise of significance is that the two highest scoring fighters were on the opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of when and how they finished their fights. One must have missing piece of the scoring would seem to finishing move point differentials based on difficult which would allow inclusions of popular MMA moves like the Arm Bar, Rear Naked Choke, Flying Knee, Spinning Back Fist, Ground and Pound into the scoring system thus enhancing the experience while adding much needed additional variance. While the overall system may seem to need a bit of work the kickoff event went off without a hitch and was certainly a lot of fun.

Evan Dunham 6.9% vs. Damm W By Dec 152 SS, 1 TD, 1 WBD+     (103 POINTS)

Paul Felder 32.5% vs. Castillo W By KO/TKO 33 SS, 1 KD, 1 2rW+     (89.5 POINTS)

Cody Garbrandt 27.9% vs. Brimage W By KO/TKO 49 SS, 1 TD, 2 KD, 1 3rW+     (82.5 POINTS)

Shawn Jordan 10.9%  vs. Cannonier W By KO/TKO 12 SS, 1 KD, 1 1rW+     (109 POINTS)

Brad Tavares 35.1% vs. Marquardt W By Dec 50 SS, 1 TD, 1 WBD+     (52 POINTS)

The premiere of DraftKings Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) was a huge success with some tournaments drawing as many as 14,375 lineups. The UFC Fight Card was amazing with Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier putting on a decent Main Event performance. While there does seem to be a few kinks DraftKings may need to work out the experience and enjoyment of finally getting to play Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) daily fantasy sports far out weighed any of the negatives or shortfalls. As always it was a first class game release by DraftKings and in normal fashion players can always only expect it to get better. If your are looking for something new to try in daily fantasy sports or if you are a die hard UFC Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fan then this exercise in investment and entertainment is a must. We sure are already looking forward to the next event!!!

The NBA schedule features an eight game slate for FanDuel owners to cash in on tonight. This gives fantasy owners a deep pool of fantasy talent to assemble a lineup for fans looking to cash in on a $2 $125k Sat NBA Shot or for the big spenders looking to enter a $25 entry $175K Sat NBA Slam. All the action gets underway at 7pm ET as the Charlotte Hornets travel to take on the Orland Magic.

Now neither of those teams have that big time superstar to build your fantasy lineup around they each have some solid but cheap options. This includes power forward Cody Zeller ($4,900) and Gerald Henderson ($4,700). Zeller finished the team’s game on Friday with a 26.9 fantasy points scoring eight points, seven rebounds and three assists. Henderson on the other hand is a high risk high reward small forward who has scored over 23 fantasy points in three straight games.

As we start to look around the rest of the action tonight the lineup of fantasy stars in action around the NBA includes James Harden, LaMarcus Aldridge, Jimmy Butler, Chris Paul and John Wall to name a few.  Along with the top stars some of the top sleepers include Mo Williams, DeMarre Carroll and Henry Sims.

Here is our complete list of fantasy sleepers for FanDuel for January 3rds lineups.

Beno Udrih, Point Guard ($3,700): Udrih is a great option of the bench for the Grizzlies behind starting point guard Mike Conley. The down factor is he is a hit or miss for fantasy owners by posting a 20 plus fantasy night for failing to reach double digit. That being said tonight the Grizzlies face a Denver Nuggets team allowing over 46 fantasy points a game to opposing point guards over their last five contests.

J.J. Redick, Shooting Guard ($5,200): While Redick and Jamal Crawford are only about a $200 discount we like J.J. in this matchup. The Clippers shooting guard has registered three straight games over 20 fantasy points. While Redick is our option both are great plays against a Philadelphia 76ers team allowing a league high 46.5 fantasy points to opposing shooting guards.

Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, Small Forward ($4,800): After missing back to back games, Mbah a Moute got back in the lineup on Friday finishing with 12 points, eight rebounds, two assists, one blocked shot and three steals. Tonight the 76ers take on a Los Angeles Clippers team that has struggled to slow down opposing small forwards.

Cody Zeller, Power Forward ($4,900): Zeller fills in nicely at the power forward position and could have another solid game against the Orlando Magic tonight. Entering tonight’s contest the Magic have struggled against power forwards allowing nearly 47 fantasy points a game over a stretch of their last five games.

Rudy Gobert, Center ($4,900): The Utah Jazz backup center is a great play against a Minnesota Timberwolves team that has allowed 50.6 fantasy points to opposing centers over their past five games. With Enes Kanter being ruled out tonight with an ankle sprain Gobert should attract a start at the center position freeing up some money for other positions.
 

Unless you have drafted a perfectly sound team on draft day, you will definitely need to take a few risks on some sleepers that can give you a lot of value from a player who is unknown. There are several players this year that are benefiting from playing in a lowly city or have been traded into a better situation. There are quite a few players on the Philadelphia 76ers whom you might consider targeting as a sleeper. The 76ers have nothing to play for and are unlikely to make any trades this year, so their surrounding cast is what it is.

Michael Carter-Williams is the obvious winner here, but he was probably drafted in the mid rounds of most leagues. He does more good than bad, but has awful percentages and a high turnover rate. However, MCW has teammates who have benefited from playing on the same team. KJ McDaniels, Tony Wroten, and Robert Covington are interesting players to target in most leagues. In many cases, one or more of these players should be available in the waiver wire unless your league is a deep and competitive one.

Nonetheless, you can still trade for these players with another bench player perhaps. What makes McDaniels an interesting target is his ability to rack up defensive stats at the sf spot. He is capable of producing at least one block and one steal per game and also a couple threes. If he can get into the starting lineup and get consistent minutes in the upper 20s or lower 30s then he can up his stats big time.

Robert Covington on the other hand is a sf/pf who can shoot the 3 ball and also give you defensive stats. No one even heard of Covington until this year and now that he has the opportunity to produce big time for a struggling and rebuilding team, all signs point to yes for targeting this guy. He can pretty much give you stats all across the board and has been consistently hoisting up 10 shots per game, which is a good determining factor that he is a focal point in the offense. If you need to test your luck on a sleeper, I would highly recommend Robert Covington over KJ McDaniels at the moment because he is getting more playing time and can produce more on the offensive end for you.

Tony Wroten may not be a sleeper anymore because of his hot start to the season, but because of nagging injuries and the eventual return of MCW, Wroten has now been coming off the bench so his numbers have dipped quite a bit. You should be able to find him on the waiver wire if you need a guard that can give you stats all across the board. Although, he might not have the best percentages either and is turnover prone just like MCW. However, Wroten will have ample time commanding the second unit and will also share time with MCW from time to time. If you’re worried that he is coming off the bench, I wouldn’t fret so much considering that he can still put up modest numbers.

One other sleeper that is starting to get consistent burn is Jared Dudley of the Milwaukee Bucks. He had a terrible year last season because he wasn’t healthy at all and was in fact forced to play while injured because Doc Rivers needed him too. Now that he has finally become healthy, he is focusing solely on ball and his numbers are showing. Dudley is a streaky shooter who is a great defender. He should be able to knock down two threes, grab about five rebounds, dish out about two assists and get you a combined two steals and blocks per game. The Bucks are also not going anywhere this year and will look to unload a couple players by the trade deadline. My guess is that Ilyasova and Sanders will now longer be in Bucks uniform at the end of this season. This should open up consistent minutes for Dudley as he was acquired to be a veteran leader to these youngsters on the team.