Author: By Damon Martin

The Ultimate Fighter: Jones vs. Sonnen is now in full swing with 14 fighters officially making the house, and the next round kicks off on Tuesday as Team Jones’ Gilbert Smith Jr. takes on Team Sonnen’s top pick Luke Barnatt.

In their opening fights, Gilbert Smith, who comes from a wrestling and grappling background, dispatched of Eric Wahlin with a powerful arm-triangle choke, while 6’6″ Barnatt took care of Nicholas Kohring using his long reach but not without taking some damage along the way, including a noticeably bruised eye.

When the fight was announced, Barnatt mentioned that he hoped to fight a little later in the show due to the bumps and bruises he obtained in the opening bout, but he has no problem being the one with the target on his back as Team Sonnen’s No. 1 selection.

While mixed martial arts really is a combination of every form of battle possible, this match-up in a lot of ways comes down to Smith’s wrestling and grappling against Barnatt’s extreme reach and height advantage.

Even UFC President Dana White noted the huge difference in Barnatt’s size compared to Smith, who stands just 5’9″, giving up a whopping nine inches in height to British-born fighter Luke Barnatt.

“I don’t know why Jon would pick a guy with such height and reach advantages,” White said.

What Smith has going for him is a wealth of wrestling and ground experience, having won four fights by way of submission in his career. He’s also worked a lot in the past with UFC middleweight Chris Camozzi, who possesses a dangerous stand-up game of his own and stands 6’3″ so Smith has sparred with plenty of fighters bigger than him.

On the flipside, Luke Barnatt is a newcomer to MMA by all comparisons, having started training about three years ago with no previous work in martial arts, and looks like the fighter who will do everything in his power to keep this fight standing with his long reach and powerful jab.

Barnatt’s ground game isn’t suspect though because he’s trained many long hours under UFC welterweight John Maguire, the master of Gypsy Jiu-Jitsu, and with the long legs at 6’6″ tall, he could use those in a similar fashion to what 7-foot heavyweight Stefan Struve does to his opponents any time he’s on his back.

Leading into this fight, Smith has a slight advantage because of his ground game and wrestling, which unfortunately Barnatt just hasn’t had the time to master yet in his young stage of development in MMA, and he’s coming in a little more beat up than his opponent. Look for Smith to target Barnatt’s black eye if he’s smart, because if an opponent’s vision is even slightly impaired, he could be just a second slower seeing that crucial punch coming in at him.

Don’t doubt however that Barnatt could give his opponent fits if Smith can’t get inside in the opening moments and take this fight to the ground. It’s a toss up fight, and though the odds seem slightly in Gilbert Smith’s favor, Barnatt’s scrappy attitude and exceedingly long reach could carry him to a win here.

To play in the TUF Fantasy Tournament, visit fantasy.ultimatefighter.com
 

It’s a common theme you can follow on any fight week if you happen to be on Twitter, Facebook or any other social network – fans, media and fighters picking who they believe will win during an upcoming show.

Inevitably some will show a little swagger for getting it right, while others hang their heads in shame knowing deep down they should have picked with their head instead of their heart.

Now with the new UFC Pick Em game currently open on www.UFC.com/Fantasy, you can pick who you think the victors will be, and win some cool prizes along the way, not to mention the added benefit of bragging rights.

The game is pretty simple to understand – pick each fight by who you believe will win, what method they will carry to victory, and which round the fight will end in.

The winner, method, round system breaks down like this – if you get the winner correct that’s 200 points. You get the method for the finish and that’s 75 points, and if you pick the round it ends in that’s another 50 points (no points are given if you pick a decision because no finish or round was chosen).

Now that’s just one part of the new UFC Pick ‘Em game because there are a lot of other ways to separate yourself from the competition when it comes to bonuses you’re able to earn in many of the fights on a card.

For instance, the main event of UFC 156 features a title bout between featherweight champion Jose Aldo and challenger Frankie Edgar. Well, just like how the championship fight headlines a card, it also means more in the new fantasy game. Picking the correct winner in a title fight will earn you an extra 100 bonus points.

Now everyone loves to pick a good underdog and in the new UFC Pick ‘Em game, you are rewarded for having the foresight to give them a chance at victory as well. Big underdogs are given a 175-point bonus, while major underdogs will be given a whopping 400-point bonus if you choose them and get it right. The odds can also earn you 120 bonus points when the fighters matched up are so close that it makes getting it right worth a little something extra.

You can also earn an additional 40 points if you pick a debuting UFC fighter, and this even counts for the competitors transferring to the Octagon by way of Strikeforce if they’ve never fought in the UFC before. Bonuses will also be given to fighters taking a bout on short notice.

It breaks down like this:

Fight Bonus Points
Championship Fight: 100 Bonus points
Close Matchup: 120 Bonus points
Short Notice Fight: 120 Bonus points

Fighter Bonus Points
Underdog Fighter: 175 Bonus points
Big Underdog Fighter: 400 Bonus points
UFC Debut Fighter: 40 Bonus points

There will also be two skill based tie-breaker questions at the end of your selections that may be used to separate winners if there are a few people knotted with the same number of points at the end of an event.

The new UFC Pick ‘Em game begins with UFC 156: Aldo vs. Edgar, so go check out UFC.com/Fantasy and get your picks in today and then tune in Saturday night, Feb 2 to see if you have something new to brag about when the show is over.

The Ultimate Fighter has always been a way to showcase new competitors that hope to one day call the UFC Octagon their home, but now you have a chance to interact as well with the new TUF Tournament Fantasy game.

The fantasy game is open to viewers of the new season of the reality show, which kicks off on January 22, featuring UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones and Chael Sonnen as coaches, along with a team of middleweight fighters hoping to earn a shot at a six-figure UFC contract.

To register for the new fantasy game, visit http://fantasy.ultimatefighter.com.

Now you can join the game during any part of the 13-week season leading to the finale, but the earlier you get in to gain points, the better chance you have at securing victory and winning UFC prizes.

The game works similar to any tournament bracket you’ve ever seen for past games like NCAA March Madness, but in this game, getting one game (or in this case, one fight) wrong doesn’t necessarily doom you for an entire season.

The first picks will be available after the debut episode airs on January 22, following the Pacific Time airing of the episode. At that time, you first have the chance to pick the fighter you believe will go through the entire season and win the tournament.

If you’re correct at the end of the season, you’ll receive a 300 point bonus, and the only way to get that bonus is to pick the fighter before the second episode airs the following week.

At the end of the first episode of the new season of the Ultimate Fighter, the first fight for the following week will be announced and you can immediately go into your selections for who you believe will win the match-up.

Now the difference between this tournament and let’s say the NCAA tournament is that you can get bonus points in the second round and beyond if you’ve picked a fighter correct from round to round. If you pick a fighter to win an opening round match-up, he then becomes a “bonus fighter” for you in subsequent rounds, and if you pick him correctly again and he wins, you will receive a bonus. The bonus will only count if you pick that fighter correctly in round one, so get those picks in early because after that just getting the fight picks correct in round two won’t earn any additional bonus points.

From that point on, each round breaks down like this for scoring:
Correct picks in Round 1: 100 points
Correct picks in Quarterfinal round: 100 points or 200 points with a bonus
Correct picks in Semifinal round: 200 points or 400 points with bonus
Correct picks in the Final Round: 400 points or 800 points with bonus

For the finale fight that will air live on FX, you can then pick the fight, but you will also be asked an additional three questions at that time to gain bonus points to help separate the field from potential ties at the end. There will be a skill-based tiebreaker question as well that you will select and can be used to help choose a final winner based on who answers the closest to the actual answer.

For instance, the question may be to predict the time on the finish for the final fight and if you pick 13 minutes and the fight ends at 13:01, you’ll probably have a great chance at winning the tiebreaker.

You are encouraged to register and get started picking as soon as the season starts, and while you can join and participate at any time during the season, remember that to gain bonus points for the fighter who will ultimately win the show or the bonus fighters after the first round, getting in early counts.

Now is your chance to prove who you believe wants to be a fighter by playing along with the TUF Tournament Fantasy game for Ultimate Fighter: Team Jones vs. Team Sonnen.