Now that we have a few Draft Kings Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) daily fantasy sports events under our belts it is getting easier to understand the in’s and out’s as well as the flow of the sport.  Draft Kings Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) daily fantasy sports is an exciting new game type offering and so far the fans have been highly receptive.  The chance to follow intense fight action combined with the joy and excitement of daily fantasy sports is really starting to catch on.  If you are like us and plan to build some MMA daily fantasy lineups this weekend it will be worthwhile to gather all the information and research you can to try and make the best decisions possible.  Lets review a potentially playable lineup for this weekends up coming event at the 1stBank Center, Broomfield Colorado.

JOIN DRAFTKINGS MMA $1K FREEROLL CONTEST TODAY!

Event: Saturday February 14, 2015

UFC Fight Night: Henderson vs. Thatch 1stBank Center, Broomfield CO

Draft Kings Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) Daily Fantasy Sports Lineup Build

Fighter 1 – Neil Magny (13-3-0 (Welterweight)

Our first pick will be Neil Magny who is coming a 5 win fight streak with 2 of the fights ending KO/TKO.  Much taller then his opponent Kiichi Kunimoto (18-5-2) he has nice reach advantage and should be able to get his strikes off easily.  Heavily favored at -535 this should be an easy win for Magny and while we are paying a steep salary price for him it should be worth it.

Fighter 2 – Rodrigo de Lima (8-2-1) (Lightweight)

As one of the most evenly matched fight of the night according to the odds Rodrigo de Lima versus Efrain “Hecho en Mexico” Escudero (22-9-0) should almost be a coinflip.  Both fighters are coming off a loss and should be hungry for a win and to put on a great performance.  We will take Lima in this fight as he is known for finishing fights while Efrain is not.  We also get him at a slightly discounted price which is an added bonus.

Fighter 3 – Dan Kelly (8-0-0) (Middleweight)

Out next selection will be Dan Kelly going up against Patrick “The Beast of the East” Walsh (5-1-0).  As the only 1.5 round over/under in the odds this match is most likely a must pick and we will take the undefeated Southpaw Kelly who is known for putting people away early.  While mostly known for submissions Dan has been known to stand up and throw which we hope happens.  Its always a blast to see that amazing left in action.

Fighter 4 – Michael “Tractor” Prazeres (18-1-0) (Lightweight)

While Prazeres is pretty much a take it to decision master hopefully he will be pressed in this fight to accomplish something different.  A slight underdog to his opponent this is more of a salary cap lineup play then anything.  We do however get a proven and experienced 18-1 fighter and his opponent Kevin “The Motown Phenom” Lee (9-1-0) should not be too tough of an opponent to get through.

Fighter 5 – Benson “Smooth” Henderson (21-5-0) (Middleweight)

Well what  Draft Kings Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) daily fantasy sports lineup would be complete without including the fight of the night.  Not only will this be an amazing fight between two absolutely evenly matched opponents . We will take the more experienced fighter Benson “Smooth” Henderson (21-5-0) over Brandon Thatch (11-1-0)but it should be a perfect opportunity to enjoy the last fight of the night while sweating our MMA DFS lineups. While 3 out of Thatch’s last 5 matches have ended in either KO or TKO so Benson should be forced to stand up and throw. This is a nice way to round out our lineup and should make for a wonderful and exciting night of fighting as we get a top fighter a bit of a discounted rate.

In one of our last Draft Kings Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) feature articles we highlighted the scoring rules for this new DFS format and we think its important we do so again so that we have a clear understanding of how the lineups will be scored.

Draft Kings Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) Daily Fantasy Sports Scoring

Each MMA daily fantasy sports event features a 5 fighter roster with a fixed salary cap of $50,000.  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.

Fighters from each contest will earn points as follows:

Moves Scoring

Significant Strikes (SS): +0.5 PTS

Advance (ADVC): +1 PT

Takedown (TD): +2 PTS

Reversal/Sweep (REV): +2 PTS

Knockdown (KD): +3 PTS

Fight Conclusion Bonuses

1st Round Win (1rW+): +100 PTS

2nd Round Win (2rW+): +70 PTS

3rd Round Win (3rW+): +50 PTS

4th Round Win (4rW+): +40 PTS

5th Round Win (5rW+): +40 PTS

Decision Win (WBD+) : +25 PTS

Scoring Notes:

Significant Strikes are any Distance Strike or Clinch/Ground Strikes that are considered “Power Strikes” by official scorers.

Advances include:

To Half Guard

To Side Control

To Mount

To Back Control