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Happy New Year everyone, I hope you all had a lovely festive period with plenty of overindulging!
UFC 195 kickstarts the new year this Saturday night at the MGM Garden Arena in Las Vegas, where Robbie Lawler puts his UFC Welterweight Title on the line when he faces Carlos Condit in the main event of the evening. Heavyweights Stipe Miocic vs. Andrei Arlovski face off in the co-main event, with the winner likely to be next in line for a title shot.
Lightweights Dustin Poirier and Joseph Duffy finally meet after their originally scheduled headline fight in Dublin was canceled three days prior to the event due to Duffy being concussed in sparring. The much anticipated fight will take place on UFC Fight Pass.
The MMATorch World Cup winner will be determined this Saturday night when Chris Houten and Mark Sacchetti meet in the final.
Good luck!
All UFC 195 picks should be permitted to tommy.strong@talk21.combefore the first prelim fight on Saturday night.
MMATorch Confidence Picks Championship Match Up:
Lisa Smith (Champion) vs. Sam Martin(Challenger)
MMATorch Betting Championship Match Up:
Joel 2/8 Wielenga (Champion) vs. Ben Heather (Challenger) vs. Neal Hollic (Challenger)
UFC 195 FIGHT CARD:
Robbie Lawler (c) vs. Carlos Condit
Stipe Miocic vs. Andrei Arlovski
Albert Tumenov vs. Lorenz Larkin
Diego Brandao vs. Brian Ortega
Abel Trujillo vs. Tony Sims
Michael McDonald vs. Masanori Kanehara
Kyle Noke vs. Alex Morono
Justine Kish vs. Nina Ansaroff
Drew Dober vs. Scott Holtzman
Dustin Poirier vs. Joseph Duffy
Joe Soto vs. Michinori Tanaka
Edgar Garcia vs. Sheldon Westcott
CONFIDENCE PICKS GAME AND RULES
1. UFC 195 is a 12 fight card. Therefore, the point values you assign must range from 12 (most confident) down to 1 (least confident).
2. Additionally, please list your prediction for method of victory, along with the round. Choose either TKO, KO, SUB, UD (Unanimous Decision) or SD (Split Decision).
3. Using UFC 192 as a template, here is how a simple entry might look:
12- Northcutt TKO1
11- Pettis UD
10- Pena UD
9- Benavidez UD
8- Namajunas UD
7- Rodriguez UD
6- Martins UD
5- Tumenov TKO1
4- Magomedov UD
3- Lewis KO1
2- Bader UD
1- Cormier TKO3
4. When you email me your entry, please sort the entry numerically (as shown) from high to low. Thanks.
5. The first tie-breaker is the sum of confidence points. Using the examples above, a Northcutt victory would earn 12 points. Cormier winning would earn just 1 point, etc.
6. If two participants earn the same number of confidence points, the next tie-breaker will be the total number of winners predicted. If Player A earns 40 points on 7 winning picks, and Player B earns 40 points on 6 winning picks, Player A would be declared the winner.
7. The next tie-breaker is the number of victory methods predicted correctly. Next would be predicted rounds of victory. If both players are still tied at this point, both players will be declared the winner. If the tie is for a championship, they would match up again at the next event, along with the winner of the pool. If the tie occurs in the pool itself, both challengers would advance to face the champion at the next event.
BETTING GAME AND RULES
Here are the UFC 195 betting lines courtesy of 5Dimes:
Carlos Condit -115
Robbie Lawler -105
Stipe Miocic - 240
Andrei Arlovski +200
Albert Tumenov -260
Lorenz Larkin +220
Brian Ortega -190
Diego Brandao +165
Tony Sims -140
Abel Trujillo +120
Michael McDonald -600
Masanori Kanehara +450
Kyle Noke -325
Alex Morono +265
Justine Kish -245
Nina Ansaroff +205
Scott Holtzman -170
Drew Dober +150
Joseph Duffy -185
Dustin Poirier +160
Michinori Tanaka -120
Joe Soto +100
Sheldon Westcott -145
Edgar Garcia +125
8. Using UFC 192 as a template again, here is how a simple entry might look:
$400 on Cormier
$300 on Pena
$100 on Martins
$200 Parlay on Cormier, Northcutt and Pettis
9. Every player has $1000 of fake, imaginary, theoretical, play money to wager on each event. This is not a real money game, it is strictly for fun.
10. Players must place a bet of at least $50, but no more than $500, on each of 3 or more different fighters. Bets may be in any denomination, as long as the amount falls in the range of $50 - $500.
11. Players may also play a parlay bet. A parlay bet is a bet placed on multiple fighters. All fighters in the parlay must win their fights in order for the parlay to pay off. Parlay bets pay off at a higher rate than a bet on a single fighter. The parlay bet may be placed on either two or three fighters.
12. The minimum parlay bet is $50. The maximum parlay bet is $200. This money comes out of the $1000 allotted to each player. The parlay bet is NOT separate from the $1000 budget. A player is not required to play a parlay bet. The maximum number of parlay bets a player may wager is one.
13. Whether or not a player chooses to place a parlay bet, the player must still place at least three straight bets. It is not legal to place two bets on individual fighters and one parlay bet. No entry is considered valid unless there are a minimum of 3 straight bets placed on individual fighters.
14. If a fight ends in a draw, any money bet on said fighter will be refunded, with no fake money commission taken. If a fighter in a 3-fighter parlay is involved in a draw, that fighter will be removed from the parlay and the 3-fighter parlay will be treated as a 2-fighter parlay. If a fighter in a 2-fighter parlay is involved in a draw, that fighter will be removed from the parlay and the 2-fighter parlay will be treated as a straight bet on the remaining fighter.
JOKER CARD:
15. Joker card can be placed on any fighter up to the maximum value of 4 confidence points, 1 being the minimum.
For example, if you placed your joker card on a fighter with 4 confidence points and the fighter goes onto win, you earn an extra 4 points to your overall total. If your fighter should lose, not only do you lose your 4 points, an additional 4 points will be taken from your total.
If it's 3 points on a fighter, an additional 3 would be added to you total, and for a loss 3 extra points taken from your total and so on.
*The Joker Card (DOES NOT) have to be played, it's very much optional.
FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS:
16. If a fighter has a positive number such as +150 next to his name, he is the underdog, which means a successful bet on that fighter will pay off at a higher rate. That means that if the fighter wins, the bet will payout $150 net profit for every $100 bet on him. If a player were to bet $500 on a +150 fighter, and the fighter wins, the player will profit $750. If a player bets $500 on a +150 fighter, and the fighter loses, the player will lose his $500 bet.
17. If a fighter has a negative number such as -200 next to his name, he is the favourite, which means a successful bet on that fighter will pay off at a lower rate. That means that if the fighter wins, the bet will payout $100 net profit for every $200 bet on him. If a player were to bet $500 on a -200 fighter, and the fighter wins, the player will profit $250. If a player bets $500 on a -200 fighter, and the fighter loses, the player will lose his $500 bet.
Structure for each game
18. For each UFC numbered (or listed otherwise) event, both the Confidence Picks and Betting Game will feature a champion and a challenger facing off against one another. The winner of the head to head battle will be declared the reigning champion.
19. All other players for each UFC numbered (or listed otherwise) event will compete against each other for the right to face off against the reigning champion at the next UFC numbered event. This is known as The Pool.
20. As games administrator, I have the subjective right to eliminate any entry for any reason I deem worthy.
21. Entries may be submitted via email (tommy.strong@talk21.com), or on the comment section of this post. Email is the preferred method, because if a player posts an invalid entry, I have no way to make sure I can get hold of the player so that it may be corrected. Please, under no circumstances should you both email and post on the board your entry. One or the other please,preferably via email.
22. If you have any questions, please email me and ask. For game updates follow me on Twitter, @Strong_te
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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