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DraftKings UFC 182 Jones Vs. Cormier

By Bruce Matson

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This week will be one of the biggest UFC Pay Per Views of the year, which has Jon Jones Vs. Daniel Cormier as the main event. Draft Kings is hosting their first ever MMA DFS tournament this week, and it’s going to be very interesting. This will be the first time we will have a fantasy game for MMA, and it gives us fantasy sports nuts a new puzzle to crack. There will be a learning curve as many fantasy enthusiasts will try and master daily fantasy MMA. I’m going to take my first crack at making an MMA DFS lineup this week and see how well I can do, and how I can learn from the experience.

Jan 2, 2015; Las Vegas, NV, USA; UFC President Dana White separates Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier during the weigh in for their Light Heavyweight Title Bout at MGM Grand Garden Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

Before we can make any logical fantasy decisions, we must look over the rules and see if there are any strategies we could implement while generating our lineups. For the lineup, you are required to pick 5 fighters with out surpassing the $50,000 limit.

Here is how the points are configured during the fights.

  • Significant strikes .5 PTS
  • Advance 1 PT
  • Takedown 2 PTS
  • Reversal/Sweep 2 PTS
  • Knockdown 3 PTS
  • 1st Round Win 100 PTS
  • 2nd Round Win 70 PTS
  • 3rd Round Win 50 PTS
  • 4th Round Win 40 PTS
  • 5th Round Win 40 PTS
  • Win by desicion 25 PTS

Winning in the first round is huge when it comes to picking the right fighters. Also, it looks like picking a fighter that can land a lot of strikes could be an advantage with this set up.

Let’s take a look at the lineup I will be rolling out this week for UFC 182 Jones Vs Cormier.

Hector Lombard $12,100

Lombard is 34-4 and is facing a 27-10 Josh Burkman. Lombard is the favorite in this fight, and I look for him to dominate Burkman. I can see Lombard finishing this fight in the first round. If it goes past the 2nd round, I can see him landing lots of strikes and getting some takedowns, generating a lot of points. There’s a hefty premium having Lombard in the lineup, but I feel he is a safe bet to score a lot of points.

Donald Cerrone $11,000

At 25-6 Donald Cerrone will fight in the co-main event against 15-0 Myles Jury. This is going to be a fun fight to watch, and is a candidate to be the best fight on the card. Both fighters are going to land a lot of strikes, and I think both fighters will score a lot of points.

Myles Jury $8,800

The cool thing about Draft Kings format is that you can chose both fighters in a fight. I’m choosing both Cerrone and Jury because I’m expecting fireworks and I believe both fighters will score well.

Daniel Cormier $9,600

I’m expecting Cormier (15-0) to lose to Jon Jones (20-1), but I’m hoping for Cormier to score some take downs and possibly get lucky and steal a win. Jon Jones is very expensive at $11,700, and it’s hard to construct a lineup with him and Lombard together. I feel safer rolling out Lombard compared to Jones, because I feel Lombard has the higher odds of finishing his opponent in the first round.

Rodrigo Damm $8,000

Damm is 12-8 and is fighting Evan Dunham, who is 14-6. Both fighters are coming off of losing streaks, Damm with 2 losses and Dunham with 3 losses. With the money I had left, I felt that Damm was a good choice, because he’s a crafty vet who is a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu blackbelt. That means he could sneak a submission at anytime  during the fight.

With this lineup I spent $49,500 out of my $50,000 limit. I feel that I have a great chance at scoring well with all my selections. I feel I gambled a little bit with Cormier, but I like his price point and pay off for me.

Feel free to follow me on Twitter @bmatz08 for fantasy advice.

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