Tonight’s UFC 249 card has plenty of ways to get down action, but if you can figure out who is going to win, and how, you’ll be a big winner in DraftKings MMA Million, which has a $1 million guaranteed prize pool for just a $20 entry.
Each fighter has an assigned salary, and a will have six fighters and must not exceed the salary cap of $50,000. And with a premium on stopping your opponent early, picking some strikers that can end things in one round or less would be a great way to advance to the top of the table.
Here’s how the scoring works, and notice how heavily it leans towards winning big and early:
Moves
Significant Strikes: +0.5 Pts
Advance: +3 Pts
Takedown: +5 Pts
Reversal/Sweep: +5 Pts
Knockdown: +10 Pts
Fight Conclusion Bonuses
1st Round Win: +90 Pts
2nd Round Win: +70 Pts
3rd Round Win: +45 Pts
4th Round Win: +40 Pts
5th Round Win: +40 Pts
Decision Win: +30 Pts
So with that knowledge, here are our best bets for UFC 249’s MMA Million at DraftKings:
Francis Ngannou ($9,100)
Ngannou is -134 to win this fight by KO, TKO, or disqualification at the Sportsbook. Which means the bettors think he knocks out Jairzinho Rozenstruik more often than he doesn’t, and his potential to do this early is better than anyone on the card. He’s 7-2 in his last nine fights, with all seven wins coming in the first round. There were six by knockout, and one by submission.
Niko Price ($7,200)
Each of Price’s last four fights has ended in a knockout, three of them in the first round. He’s either winning big or losing big, and that gives you plenty of opportunity for quick points here if you think he can upset the favored Vicente Luque. Price is +365 to win by knockout, and if he does it it’ll likely be early.
Justin Gaethje ($7,500)
Another bargain on the board, and if he beats Tony Ferguson you’ll likely be racking up the points as Gaethje has won his last three fights by first round knockout. He’ll be facing his most difficult opponent, but there’s a chance he just catches El Cucuy early and stops this bout in its tracks. It also leaves more cash to bet some of the bigger names on the board with more expensive pricing.
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