Fans of fantasy football, fantasy MMA, and similar ventures will be particularly interested in this exciting news: Kountermove has entered the kickboxing world. Kountermove has long presented Fantasy MMA (including regular $500 tournaments for Bloody Elbow readers), and now they have added a more refined kickboxing game starting this weekend with Glory 20. There are a few different tournaments for Glory 20 which can earn you up to $400 for a win.
For those unfamiliar with Kountermove, you play be recruiting a team of 5 fighters taking part in the chosen event (in this case, Glory 20). You have a salary cap of $25,000, and different fighters cost different amounts. You score points based not just on wins or losses, but on how dominant a fighter is, how much they land, etc. Here are the specifics for the Glory 20 tournament:
1. Scoring– Kickboxing Fantasy:
Kountermove fantasy kickboxing works just like Kountermove fantasy MMA but with a few key differences – Kickboxers will receive .5 points for every strike landed and 3 points per knockdown.
A first-round win (by knockout, DQ, or other) earns 100 points
Second-round win earns 75 points, and
Third, fourth, or fifth-round or more wins, again by knockout, DQ, or other, earn 50 points.
Decision: rounds won (win-by-decision fights only, two out of three judges required) earn 10 points each.*
*Round points are scored based on the totality of the judges’ scores rather than individual rounds.
*All tournament fights will count towards a fighters score
2. Game start and end times: The games close at the GLORY SuperFight series start time. Scores will be updated as the livestream and taped delayed broadcasts are aired. In other words, scores for the livestream bouts will be updated in the games in near to real time, while the GLORY 20 main card scores will be updated during the Spike TV air time.
To be clear, that means the games will close Friday morning at 10:30 a.m. ET – the start of the Superfight Series. Because you can watch the Superfight Series in a live stream right here, those scores will be updated live. Fights from Glory 20 will be updated later in the day during the tape delayed Spike TV broadcast. Get the full fight card for Glory 20 below.
For those looking to try your hand and dive in, here are my keys to victory:
1. Get Andy Ristie. At $4800, he costs less than the $5000 average you can spend on a fighter, and he’s a must have. Ristie is a KO machine, and has to be considered a heavy favorite to KO Robin van Roosmalen here – largely because he already DID KO him less than two years ago. KOs, especially early KOs, score you huge points, and Ristie is your best bet for one here.
2. You need the tournament winner. A key point is that all tournament fights will count towards that fighter’s score. So you pick the tournament winner and you get two points for the price of one. That’s big. Unfortunately for you, this is an incredibly hard tournament to pick, with no clear winner. If you’re playing the KO game (and again, that’s a good game to play), know that Simon Marcus looked very chinny in a KO loss to an unranked opponent last time out, making opponent Wayne Barrett a decent choice, while Jason Wilnis is the least likely of the 4 to score a KO here.
3. Consider doubling down on tournament participants. Again, you pick a fighter that makes the finals and you get two fights out of him. So picking both finalists may not be a bad idea. The only downside (other than the fact that, again, this is a really close tournament)? They are expensive, with all 4 tournament fighters over $5000.
4. Look to the Heavyweights. This Superfight Series features some lesser known talents, but if you need to roll the dice on someone to round out your squad, just as in MMA, the Heavyweights swing heavy leather and make a KO more likely. In particular, I really don’t see Chi Lewis Parry vs. Yong Su Park going the distance (and I don’t see Parry being the one looking at the lights either).
5. Avoid the high cost, high risk fighters. Particularly Saulo Cavalari and Mosab Amrani. Both are pricey, both are in really tough fights. It’s certainly possible they win, but at that price, I don’t like the risk.
Take part in the Kountermove tournament and see how your team does at Glory 20, live on Spike TV this Friday, April 3 at 9:00 p.m. ET. And remember to join us here at Bloody Elbow for fight night coverage.
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