We know that MMA is here to stay. A few years ago people would have told you that at best it would rise to the top of the underground sports pile, but thanks to epic fights and larger than life personalities the sport has found mainstream success. If you ask UFC President Dana White, the rise of MMA was inevitable:
“You take four [street] corners anywhere. On one corner they’re playing soccer. On the second corner they’re playing basketball. On the third corner they’re playing street hockey. On the fourth corner a fight breaks out. Where does the crowd go?”
– Dana White
It’s no surprise, considering that Vegas is widely considered the spiritual home of the UFC, that shadowing the rise of the sport is the rise of gambling on the outcome of the fights. However, the US has some weird ass rules around betting online, and its created an interesting bubble where in many cases the most accessible way to bet on fights (or other sporting events for that matter) is services offering Fantasy MMA leagues.
Who doesn’t love debating who’s going to win fights with their friends? Picking your favourites, deciding between what your heart and head is telling you and then being on the edge of our seat waiting to see if you’re right all adds excitement to the most exciting sport in the world. When you also add the chance to win big prizes you take it to another level. We’ve looked through the available services and have put together the big three of Fantasy MMA for you to consider.
MMA Playground
Let’s start with a free option; MMA playground offer several different forms of fantasy MMA, and use a play money system, so you’re playing for positions in a league. Ideal for fans just branching out to the world of fantasy MMA.
Playline
You can’t really argue with a company offering fantasy mma when they’re co-owned by an ex UFC champ and hall of famer Michael Bisping, and they’re certainly aiming to make a dent in the MMa betting world, offering both standard betting and fantasy leagues. All you do is have to predict the stat lines for each of your fighters, so how many significant strikes they’ll land and things. You chose the number of competitors you’re against, and can buy in from $1 to $1000 The $1,000,000 bonus for being bang on with your predictions is pretty nice too.
DraftKings
If you’ve heard of the NFL you’ve probably heard of DraftKings, and they’ve relatively recently jumped to MMA to take the lead as the largest MMA fantasy company. They’ve brought up other brands, had a partnership with the UFC and have some major prizes on offer for their competitions. Their system involves players having a set budget and ‘buying’ fighters for an event – they all have prices based on their skills and rankings, so you need to compromise somewhere in your team – and if your fighters win, you win.
Now that we’ve talked you through three of the fantasy MMA leagues you can look into taking part in, how do you fancy entering a slightly different competition? We’re giving away a £10 Amazon voucher to one lucky person who fills out our questionnaire before the end of July 2019 – just click here, answer the questions and we’ll be in touch when we’ve drawn the winner!
This is a guest post from the newly launched DMI Marketing Group (@DMIMarketingCo on Instagram), who are collecting market data for one of their clients.