Bounty Hunters,

I have a proposition for you:

It's an eight-week competition, a trial of durability and resolve that will ask you to seek out and execute as many bounties as you're capable of. I'll be assigning you requisite tasks beginning June 1st, assigments I expect for you to carry out to your utmost. Each week, a new bounty will be instituted, replacing the old one. For each bounty you make good on, you'll earn one bounty point.

Sounds simple, doesn't it?

Bounties

Bounties will be placed on certain tasks and accomplishments that I'll ask you to seek out, beginning from the Monday am reset all the way until the Sunday am reset. The only reset not in play will be the Sunday pm reset, which will be used to premiere the following week's bounty. You'll be asked to complete a series of odd tasks: you might be asked to, for instance, defeat as many fighters named Jim as possible within a one-week span. On Sunday, you'll send me a private message with all the links detailing your collected bounties, and for each successful occurence, you'll receive one bounty point. So, kick the asses of as many Jims as possible, and perhaps you'll find yourself atop the leaderboard. Remember though: you only get credit for bounties if they're documented, so keep those links through the week and send them to me at the end.

Special Bounties

Beyond regular one-point bounties, there will be special, particularly difficult bounties offering ten points apiece. Some weeks, these special bounties will be available to be claimed by only one person, meaning the person who does the best will collect all ten points. Other weeks, it'll be open to all players. Be advised: you'll need to be cunning, astute, and just plain lucky to collect these.

Player Bounties

On week five, it will be time to even the score. For those of you being outpaced by the leaders, you'll have your opportunity to assassinate your fellow bounty hunters by taking points from others' totals and adding them to your own. That's all I can say on this for now. More will come immediately before week four begins.

Leaderboard

The Bounty Hunter leaderboard will be updated on Monday of each new week. Players who do not submit a bounty report via midnight on Sunday will not be eligible to receive points. Be advised that there will be no exceptions whatsoever on this; in order to be fair, the cut-off will be 12 pm sharp. Not 12:02 or even 12:01.

Sign-Ups

Players are now eligible to sign up. Limit one camp per player. Post your name and camp below, and updates will come regularly. Deadline for sign-ups is May 31st at 11:59 pm, or right before the first bounty.

Rules

The only rules are that all MMArmy rules must be followed for the full duration of the competition. That means no feeding, folks. The bounties will be designed as best as possible not to favor camps of a particular experience level or style base, so don't worry much about that.

Leaderboard (Through Week Three):

Leaderboard:

The Leader
Decommissioner, GSP Nuthuggery, 133

The Remaining Seven
Jbear, The Bus Riders, 125
Robj23, Team Smash, 118
Wankrupt, Brawl N Ground N Pound, 112
Black-Santa, Team Ochocinco, 99
Spidey, Spidey MMA, 66
Pain, Pain House, 60
CCF, Full Contact Canucks, 25

The (ELIMINATED) Bounty Hunters
Crippler, iCe MMA Academy, 10
ShogunHua, ZooTork, 10
Train2K, Headhunters Inc., 8
DrinkDrankCrunk, Yeltsin, 3
Godfather, Goodfellas, 3
Warren, Southern Yankees, 2
Fouligor, Who Dat Ninja Turtle, 1
urnerds101, beastmode101, 1

Week Six Summary: It's official: jbear and Decom are tied for first place with 124 points apiece. Weeks seven and eight will decide our first Bounty Hunters champion! Rob and Black-Santa are still in it, however, and can make a comeback with a huge showing. For the rest, spots in the top five are still up for grabs.

___________________________________________________

Sign-Ups:

1. Pain: Pain House
2. Warren: The Southern Yankees
3. Teshore: Hells Lair
4. Crip: iCe MMA Academy
5. Chachi: TheChachiTeam
6. Black-Santa: Team Ochocinco
7. DrinkDrankCrunk: Yeltsin
8. Acer: Groundhogs
9. Ehrod: The Brooklyn Brawlers
10. DYTI: In the butt
11. Ho brah!: ffnd
12. RugerJitsu: Team Reality
13. jbear: The Bus Riders
14. Wankrupt: Brawl N Ground N Pound
15. robj23: Team Smash
16. Toi Tanks: toi tanks
17. Decommissioner: GSP Nuthuggery
18. Toj: Flojian Academy
19. spidey: Spidey MMA
20. cool person: beastmode101
21. fouligor: Who Dat Ninja Turtle
22. Openeye: Tuga Fighting Systems
23. tc1312: Camp Rear Naked Choke
24. geezhound: Hard Knocks
25. PhilCam: Athlon MMA
26. Caleb Archer: Team Shakes
27. migrantworkers: migrantworkers
28. Godfather: The Goodfellas
29. CCF: Full Contact Canucks
30. Mark: MJA Fight Squad
31. Train2K: Headhunters Inc.

Bounty hunters, I have a proposition for you:

As we begin our competition, you’ll be offered two bounties, one regular, the other special. Regular bounties are easier to come by and are worth one point. Special bounties are exponentially more difficult and therefore worth ten. But of course, you already know that, seeing as you’re all well-versed in the rules of this little competition…
Here is my proposition for week one:

I’m putting a bounty out on camps young and old this week. It’s time someone puts those age-old, AARP-eligible geezer veterans in their place, so one point will be issued out for every fighter you defeat from a camp with a January 2008 join date. Sorry, January only. And while I’m at it, some of these young whippersnappers need to be taught a lesson as well! Put a hurting on a fighter from a camp with a May 2010 join date—by a “hurting,” I mean a victory—and you’ll get a point as well. Good luck against all those other camps in between, but don’t expect anything more than zilch (if I’m generous, nada) for victories against all of those guys.

As you all know, I need links to fights to verify your tally, so store links throughout the week and email them to me via PM on Sunday. Please, don’t send me a hundred PMs as the week goes along! Microsoft Word is your friend, and (s)he’d be willing to do you a solid by saving all your links in one location until the proper time. You only get credit for the fights you send me via PM, so be sure to get those in.

And now, for the week’s special bounty: I know you’re all able-bodied bounty hunters, but I need you to moonlight as excorcists for the week. That’s right – I’m putting a bounty out on all fighters ranked #666. El diablo has no business in MMArmy, and neither do these satanic cultists. Find fighter #666 and defeat him and you’ll earn a whopping 10 points. Naturally, only one camp will have the opportunity to get this special bounty per reset, to break out the holy water and Bible-thumping before your competitors can say, “the power of Christ compels you!”

Since this special bounty’s, well, special, I need for you to PM me any special bounty accomplishments the reset in which it occurs. Why? Well, because fighter ratings change every reset, silly! This is contrary to the procedure I will normally call for, PMs on Sunday only, but it’s the only way I can verify the validity of your claims.

To reiterate, week one’s bounties:

Young (May 2010) and Old (January 2008): One Point.
The Exorcists (Fighter #666): Ten Points.

Best of luck.

Bounty hunters, I have a proposition for you:

We’ve reached the second week in our two-month journey, and some of you have made quite the killing. Yet the raison d’etre for the bounty hunter is not the quick score, but the reputation earned after many successful hauls. You have quite a ways to go, all of you!

This week, your mettle will be tested in two basketball-themed bounties. My Celtics are squaring off against the Lakers in the NBA Finals, and with the passing of the late John Wooden, it seems an opportune time for these two bounties to be offered to you all.

Here is my proposition for week two:

To truly know your enemy, you must study him; bounty hunters, you have not yet been required to pay closer attentions to the fighters you pummel, and this will soon change. Taking their grooming cues from the heyday of the ABA and the NBA of the 1970s, fighters throughout MMArmy have adopted the high top fade—a look NBA rookie Brandon Jennings returned to some semblence of popularity—and the afro as the en vogue follical stylings of MMArmy. These looks, delightfully retro yet still hip, could use a little refashioning. Bounty hunters, break out your cutters, trimmers, scissors, and razors: your task this week is to finish any fighter with a high-top fade or an afro. You must finish your opponent! In the words of one man who knows less about hair than anyone else, Dana White: “don’t leave it in the hands of the judges!”

Every time you finish a fighter with a high-top fade or an afro, you earn one point as per this week’s regular bounty. If you need to re-educate yourselves on what eligible opponents look like, the ‘fro (hair style 30) and the ‘fade (hair style 38) can both be observed here:

The High-Top Fade
The Afro

Now, here’s your special bounty for the week: defeat any player who shares a name with a NBA player currently on a roster and you’ll earn a whopping ten points. There’s nothing that I detest more than a fraud, and these fighters have masqueraded as other professional athletes for long enough. Be aware though: this won’t be nearly as easy as it sounds! These imitators are rare and only astute players will discover them.

Remember, only active players currently on a NBA roster will be eligible. That means you’d be advised to use a site with NBA rosters (I’d suggest sports.yahoo.com) to check rosters if you’re not sure. Most players don’t exist in the MMArmy universe, but among my Celtics, there have been from time to time fighters named Ray Allen, Nate Robinson, and Glen Davis.

Don’t despair! They’re rare, but they do exist.

One final, albeit very important point: you will only be allowed to score points over a particular opponent once per week. This rule goes for both challenges, meaning that if you kick Kobe Bryant's ass, you can't challenge him again...and again...and again...and score a bazillion points.

To reiterate, week two’s bounties:

Finishin’ Fros and Fades: One Point.
NBHA (National Bounty Hunter Association): Ten Points.

Best of luck.

Bounty Hunters, I have a proposition for you:

Week two was a tremendous disappointment for me. Most bounty hunters were unable to take advantage of the bounties I posted. Clearly, you bounty hunters are not yet ready for the truly difficult challenges that lay ahead! As a corrective measure, I've two bounties that, I hope, will allow for you bounty hunters to get back on track.

With UFC 115 in the books, this week's bounties are reminiscent of the evening's main event, in which Rich "Ace" Franklin put the career of Chuck Liddell on ice. It was the end of a historic career for "The Iceman," a former UFC Light Heavyweight champion who lived and died by stalking opponents and hurling his now-legendary overhand right. This week, you'll be asked to play the role of Ace on your unfortunate competition.

Your regular bounty for the week concerns first-round finishes. With Chuck Liddell's career ending at the end of the first round, it seems fitting to award bounty hunters for each first-round finish they can post. Every time you achieve that distinction, you'll be awarded one point. If this sounds simple, then the week's special bounty won't sound quite so easy, and will require attention to detail on your part.

Speculation ran rampant when Liddell was KO'd by Mauricio "Shogun" Rua that The Iceman was finished. Liddell, pleading for one final chance, came into Saturday's fight in the best shape of his life, but following another brutal knockout, it now appears that his career is indeed over.

This week, you'll be asked to play the role of career killers. For the special bounty, you'll be awarded 10 points every time you beat a fighter in what ends up being his final fight as a professional. This can occur in several ways:

If you fight a fighter during a pm reset and he retires that night, you'll be given 10 points, provided you win.

If you defeat a fighter during an am reset in what ends up being his final fight before retiring, you will also be eligible for 10 points.

And finally, if you defeat a fighter who, following your victory, is manually retired, you'll be awarded 10 points. There is one stipulation, however: to keep bounty hunters from racking up points against 0-1 retirees, your opponent must have fought at least 20 times over the course of his career.

To reiterate, here are the bounties for the week:

Regular Bounty, Don't Blink: One Point.
Special Bounty, Career On Ice: Ten Points.

Best of luck.

Bounty hunters, I have a proposition for you,

This week is a special week. For those of you lagging behind, you'll have a chance to get back into the fray. For those of you ahead, you'll have the opportunity to take out a fellow competitor.

There are two ways to score points this week. The first is simple: beat a fighter from another camp in this competition and you earn a point. Sounds good, doesn't it?

There is another, crucial way to score points: the player bounty. Each of you will receive via PM on Sunday night the name of one opposing camp. No one will know who others camps have been assigned, and no one will know to whom THEIR camp has been assigned. Your task will be to seek that camp out and defeat it. For every time you beat them, you take points away from their total score and add to yours. The effect multiplies during the week, ensuring the possibility that you can demolish an opposing player by racking up the victories. Here's an idea of how points will be assigned:

First victory: one point subtracted from them, one point added to you.
Second victory: two and two.
Third victory: three and three.
Fourth victory: four and four.
Fifth victory: five and five.

After the fifth victory, the score resets, and you return to the one-point starting point. If your target camp runs out of points, you still receive the points you're due, while their score remains 0.

This is a critical point in the game for all camps. Do you simply choose not to fight any of the other opposing camps for fear of being decimated by the camp assigned the task of hunting you down? Or do you fight everyone and anyone in an attempt to rack up bounty points? Your strategy may very well determine the winner of this competition.


Best of luck.

Bounty hunters, I have a proposition for you:

We've reached the second half of our competition, and some of you have done well...up until now. The bounties are going to get more difficult as our competition runs it's course!

Continuing our run of mixed martial arts-themed bounties, this week's fights concern everyone's favorite God-fearing Russian, Fedor Emelianenko. This pot-bellied pugilist lost for the first time in over a decade via submission to Fabricio Werdum, and you'll be playing the role of Werdum, the "Emelianenko hunter" after accumulating wins over both Fedor and his brother Alex.

The regular bounty is simple: Russian fighters are on the week's menu. This is the first nationality-themed bounty of the season: for every Russian fighter you defeat, you will earn one bounty point. So, treat Mother Russia as if she were Joan Crawford in Mommy Dearest and you'll attain plenty of points in no time!

Your special bounty is going to be much more difficult. After Fabricio Werdum perpetrated the ultimate c-c-combo breaker! by ending Emelianenko's 27-fight unbeaten streak, you'll have to do the same to get a cool ten points.

No, you won't have to end a winning streak of THAT length. Let's say that every time you beat a fighter with a winning streak of at least TEN fights, you'll get points equal to the number of consecutive wins that fighter had. This is the first time the special bounty has been worth a MINIMUM of ten points - and it might not be the last!

So, in summation:

Regular Bounty (Red Scare) - One Point
Special Bounty (Beat the Streak) - Ten+ Points

Best of luck.

Bounty Hunters, I have a proposition for you:

This week, we're celebrating the Fourth of July in style. Create fireworks with your American-born brethren and you'll be rewarded handsomely. Let me explain:

Our regular bounty for the week will require you to pay close attention to fighter and camp nationality. Every time you beat an American fighter from an American camp, you'll receive one point. Since there are so many American fighters running around, these must also be from American camps! Don't forget to check both affiliations.

So, what better way to celebrate Independence Day than by pummeling my compatriots into a red, bloody pulp? Your special bounty for the week will be a new addition to our stable of possibilities. You'll be asked to pay attention to fighter attire; namely, a fighter's shorts. Anyone caught wearing shorts reminiscent of the American flag--there are four possibilities here--is worth a whopping 10 points! Be warned: the stars and stripes is not as prevalent as you might expect!

So, to reiterate:

Regular Bounty (Seeing Stars and Stripes): One Point
Special Bounty (Red, White, and Bruised): Ten Points

Best of luck.

Bounty Hunters, I have a proposition for you:

This week, I have some new bounties for you. As we near the end of this two-month journey, the field of contenders has been whittled down to the point that I know them by name. And it'll be names that you'll be asked to know for this week's regular bounty.

Needless to say, MMArmy has produced some rather odd names. Anyone who has ever recruited a fighter with "66" for their last name can attest to that. This week, you'll be asked to seek out those fighters who have two first names. Adam James, watch your back!

For each of these poor double-identity fighters you topple, you'll receive one point. Now, to uncomplicate what could be a tricky situation, I will do this: for every last name you claim to be a "first name," I will accept only those entries that appear in MMArmy as first name. So, Tony Scott would be acceptable, since Scott is in play in MMArmy as a first name. Tony 7, however, is not, regardless of how much Seinfeld you've watched over one lifetime.

For your special bounty, the same regular bounty will be in play. This is the first week I've offered this prize: the special bounty is the same as the regular bounty! Well, with one little caveat - you have to accomplish the regular bounty while in a title fight. Do that, and you'll net a cool ten points, on top of the one point you'll earn for the regular bounty.

Remember, only last names that have been used at least once in MMArmy as a first name count as an acceptable first name. Send me your links and crush your opponents in this, our final regular bounty week!

To reiterate, here are the week's bounties:

Regular Bounty (Nom de Pummel) - One Point.
Special Bounty (Nom de Pummel...for the belt) - Ten Points.

Best of luck.

Bounter Hunters, I have a proposition for you,

It's our final week. As promised, this will be an Assassination Bounty week, which means you will all receive a bounty target who you will be asked to assassinate. If you've forgotten the rules from the first Assassination week, please refer back to week four.

However, there will be one difference between this week and week four. Now that we've gotten down to the nitty gritty, only the top eight remaining players will be eligible. A list of the remaining eight competitors will be supplied below:

The Leader
Decommissioner, GSP Nuthuggery, 132

The Remaining Seven
Jbear, The Bus Riders, 128
Robj23, Team Smash, 118
Wankrupt, Brawl N Ground N Pound, 106
Black-Santa, Team Ochocinco, 99
Spidey, Spidey MMA, 69
Pain, Pain House, 52
CCF, Full Contact Canucks, 25

Assignments will be done at random. You will be receiving a PM within the hour 9-10 pm EST time with your assignment.

Once again, to reiterate the rules from week four, every win against your bounty target adds points to your score and subtracts from theirs. It's the ultimate equalizer! The point system works on a sliding scale:

First win: one point for you, minus-one for them.
Second win: two points for you, minus-two for them.
Third win: three points for you, minus-three for them.
Fourth win: four points for you, minus-four for them.
Fifth win: five points for you, minus-five for them.

If you beat anyone else's camp from the final eight, you receive one point per victory. And just for extra incentive, I'll give you two points for every time you finish a fighter from another camp of the final eight. This bonus won't apply to your target, however.

This is it - best of luck! To the winner go the spoils (and a prize).