DraftKings acquires MMA-focused competitor Kountermove

Daily fantasy sports (DFS) operator DraftKings has agreed a deal to acquire mixed martial arts (MMA) and combat sports fantasy website Kountermove.

Although terms of the agreement have not been disclosed, the MMAjunkie.com website reports that Kountermove’s 30,000 registered users will be moved over to the DraftKings platform.

DraftKings already offers MMA fantasy sports through a dedicated platform that launched in 2014, with approximately 200,000 players using the service.

In addition, DraftKings has been in partnership with MMA promoter the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) for almost 12 months now, providing fans with a range of weekly fantasy contests.

“We had been looking for opportunities to grow our presence in combat sports, so it was a very logical fit for us to come together,” DraftKings founder Matt Kalish said.

“Any time you can come on and compete against another group of people in bigger games, the idea of coming together is really an added experience for everybody to be a part of it.”

Brian Knapp, co-founder of Kountermove, added: “We’ve gotten to know the DraftKings team over the past year-and-a-half since they entered the market, and being the leaders in fantasy for combat sports, really looked to them as a partner for growing the overall space of MMA.

“We at Kountermove knew that the real way to have many, many more MMA fans enjoying fantasy MMA worldwide was to partner with the leader in overall daily fantasy.”

Related article: DraftKings secures UFC partnership