Fantasy MMA: How to Play

I’ve been playing Fantasy MMA for a little over a year now, and there are a few formats.

There’s the gambling format (which can be played, in the best incarnation I’m aware of, at MMAPlayground.com) and there’s the team format, which is a lot like Fantasy Football. Since the gambling version is fairly self-explanatory, I thought it might be fun to give a little rundown on the team version.

The team version usually starts with a draft. Depending on how many players you have, you may want to have eight rounds. The staff at MMAForum plays ten rounds, though we have ten players.

Some groups only play with UFC fighters (in which case, you’ll have to have fewer rounds), some add the WEC. This season, the staff has opened itself up from the UFC/WEC to include Affliction, World Victory Road and Dream, and our opening event was UFN: Diaz vs. Neer.

One of the former-moderators at MMAForum came up with the rules that we use, which are the best I’ve run across so far, and establish the point system. (described below the fold)

It reads, pretty simply:

Scoring Breakdown:

If your fighter is on the card: +5 points
If your fighter is in a title fight: +6 points
If your fighter wins said title fight: +2 points
If your fighter is involved in the Main Event (LAST FIGHT of the event): +3 points (regardless of win / loss)

If your fighter wins in 1st round: +10 points

- via KO: +3 point bonus
- via TKO: +2 point bonus
- via Sub: +1 point bonus

If your fighter wins in 2nd round: +8 points
If your fighter wins in 3rd round: +7 points
If your fighter wins in 4th round: +6 points
If your fighter wins in 5th round: +5 points

If your fighter wins by Unanimous Decision: +4 points
If your fighter wins by Majority Decision: +3 points
If your fighter wins by Split Decision: +2 points

If your fighter loses a fight: -4 points
If your fighter is Disqualified: -5 points
If your fighter is involved in a Draw: 0 point value

Those are the basic rules. You can always add little things, and this season, since I’ve taken over the staff league, I’ve added the rules to include a -2 point penalty for fighters not making weight.

This is a fairly basic point system, which is why I like it, and I definitely recommend it to small groups of fans looking to start their own league.

These are the basics of MMA Fantasy Teams, and hopefully I’ll get to the strategy of it soon and give my reasoning for my fantasy fight picks this season, as well as my thought process and who are the most valuable fighters.