DraftKings has constantly strived to stay on the cutting edge of the daily fantasy sports industry and their variety of contest offerings across numerous professional sports leagues is no different. They were the first to bring DFS players English Premier League contests and in a bold and unanticipated move have now brought Daily Fantasy MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) style contests to the daily fantasy sports industry.
The idea fits extremely comfortably into their current daily fantasy sports offerings. The Salary Cap is set at $50,000 and you are to choose a 5 Fighter-Lineup from all expected participants in the upcoming event for that night. The winner will obviously be the person who scores the most fantasy points according to the below rules:
Scoring & Rules
Fighters in each event will accumulate 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
An interesting point to note is that DraftKings is not taking advantage of their late swap feature as it appears that all rosters will lock when the first fight is kicked off.
DraftKings continues to offer new and innovative ideas to reach untapped markets for daily fantasy sports participation. Lets face it, sports come in all forms some more traditional then others. By branching out and being willing to take risks on new sport offerings DraftKings continues to set itself apart from the rest of the industry and continues to cut into the market share that FanDuel has built up. Most industry insiders were hoping to see Nascar as the next major daily fantasy sport offering but due to legal concerns around the idea of Nascar being only one “contest” all sites have backed off of this offering. MMA is developing a hardcore following of people and continues to be one of the fastest growing sports of the past decade. If DraftKings advertised and marketed at MMA contests this could usher in a whole new wave of players to the daily fantasy sports industry. I think we will see a parternship between DraftKings and UFC announced shortly which would be a huge boost to Daily Fantasy MMA. DraftKings and Jon Bones Jones have announced a partnership.
Excited to partner with DraftKings, the hottest company in daily fantasy sports @draftkingshttp://t.co/e7znmShpce
— Jon Bones Jones (@JonnyBones) December 23, 2014
This partnership looks like it will involve ring side tickets along with meet and greet opportunities for winners of daily fantasy MMA contests on DraftKings. This is a unique and exciting contest idea that should draw in people to play daily fantasy MMA who have never tried any form of daily fantasy sports before.
