If you are the type of person with an attention to detail and happened to fully view the poster for UFC 251, you would have noticed in the bottom left hand corner that EA will be revealing information about their fourth installment of the UFC game franchise with UFC 4.

Not much is known about the game in terms of who will be on the roster and the different game play modes have been kept very secretive, but all shall be revealed when eyes are on the Fight Island with UFC 251: Usman vs. Burns. As if Fight Island couldn’t get any more special, EA teases fight fans with the release of more details and information about the game.

Who Will Be On The Cover?

Who will be on the cover is one of those hot topics of discussion and fans and even fighters such as Darren Till have taken to graphic design and imagined their dream covers, showing just how excited they are. Being on the cover of the UFC game has become a similar privilege to how football players hold such high regard of being placed on each year’s Madden edition.

Possible fighters to grace the cover could be the obvious choices like Khabib, Stipe Miocic, or any of the champions. Personally I feel I would hand over my money quicker if Amanda Nunes was granted the honour. The way she has dominated her opponents and defended both of her titles has given her esteemed status in the fighting world. To add this honour with the UFC cover would be vindication after the grief she took for cancelling her fight with Valentina Shevchenko at UFC 213 hours before the event was supposed to start due to having chronic sinusitis.

No matter who gets the cover, you know EA will have multiple different editions that will entice people willing to spend their money.

With this being the fourth installment it is a pretty exciting time for MMA gaming fans as the graphics and game play have fully evolved since EA’s UFC 1 released in 2014.

If you are excited for EA’s UFC 4, what game modes would you like to see or what fighter would you like to fight as to gain the virtual UFC championship? As well, who do you think will grace the cover of this edition?

The post EA Sports to Reveal More Details on Highly Anticipated UFC 4 Game on July 11 appeared first on Cageside Press.

With no MMA events lately, fans seem to have to resort to what we can find; for me it was watching some of the UFC Hall of Fame video packages. The one that stuck out the most was Michael Bisping’s, which got me thinking about how Bisping’s career could easily have been the blueprint for the EA Sports UFC game career mode.

If you have played the video game, you will have a sense of where I am coming from. You create a character with your imagination or put yourself, as the old EA tag line goes, “In the Game.”

The similarities are uncanny when you compare the story mode from the game to Bisping’s career.

In the early versions of the game, you earn your way into the UFC by fighting up through the ranks of the WFA, but it seemed EA Sports UFC 3 did it differently by going the Ultimate Fighter route for the create-a-fighter mode. Bisping’s career mirrored each game release as he worked his way up the ranks of the CWFC, but also earned his shot in the UFC by winning a contract from season three of the Ultimate Fighter.

What I want the MMA fan to realize is that we are so lucky to place a controller in our hands and invoke a feeling once our created fighter wins UFC gold and we get to see those crazy cut scenes that go along with it. Through the ups and downs Michael Bisping always believed in himself; whether the fans were cheering or booing, he had a goal and that was to achieve a UFC Championship. That UFC champion gold feeling, from watching Bisping and advancing through the ranks in EA Sports UFC, translates into regular life, and makes us want to do better.

Through hard work and dedication you can achieve your dreams

The take away from this article is the fact that that once an opportunity presents itself, through hard work and dedication you can achieve your dreams. Don’t believe me? Well, on 17 days’ notice Bisping answered the call that would forever enshrine his legacy and cement his name as a UFC champion. He worked hard through all the trash talk and devastating losses, and came back to avenge a loss against Luke Rockhold. Avenged another against Dan Henderson. Bisping changed his life in a such a way it was comparable to a video game — all he had to do was step up to the challenge when nobody else was willing to take a chance. Bisping grabbed an opportunity that earned him respect from not only the guys who signed his checks but everyone who ever has had a dream. What could easily have been a career that ended with “one of the best to never wear gold” suddenly became “overcame the odds to become UFC champion.”

In short Bisping’s career arc, and his late-career success, were inspirational. In this strange new world of social distancing, it inspires regular people like me to stand up and take a challenge — both in video games and real life.

Congrats on your career Michael Bisping, and thank you for being an inspiration to anyone that has a dream worth believing in.

The post Michael Bisping: An Inspirational Career Comparable to a Video Game appeared first on Cageside Press.

As the release of EA’s third UFC title approaches, stats of top fighters have been made public. Positive feedback from social media would indicate that the game seems to be moving in the right direction mechanically. There still seems to be some demand for some old features from the THQ games like Pride Mode, but overall everyone seems to be pleased with EA UFC 3. However, there is one glaring issue with the game and that is the stats of the fighters. 

Some of the most egregious examples are Fabricio Werdum, Demian Maia, and Jacare Souza not having a 99 (max) grappling rating. Conor McGregor, who is among the worst in the UFC in terms of stamina, has a rating of 88. That is just one point lower than noted workhorses Donald Cerrone and Frankie Edgar, and the same rating as Clay Guida. Conor’s grappling stat is also higher than Guida’s.

There are heavyweights with better stamina and offensive output than Conor, and to give him the same stamina and better grappling than Guida is an insult to every MMA fan. There are some other weird ones as well. Gastelum having 88s across the board seems a bit lazy. GSP having less health than Wonderboy seems a bit odd. Erick Silva having better stats than anyone in anything is criminal.

Alistair Overeem’s health being at 90 makes us think that no one has actually watched his fights or looked at his record. For perspective, Andrei Arlovski, Todd Duffee, and Travis Browne have a health rating of 85. Derrick Lewis has a rating of 89. Stipe Miocic, Daniel Cormier, Junior dos Santos, and Fabricio Werdum all have a health rating of 91. So they’re saying a guy who has been stopped 14 times by strikes sits between those fighters. You’d have to combine the KO losses of several of the fighters just listed to match Overeem’s record.

On the women’s side, things seem to make sense for the most part. Possibly due to there being less of them. The only thing we would like tweaked is Rose Namajunas’ striking score considering how she beat Joanna. Not saying it should be higher than Joanna Jedrzejczyk’s or Karolina Kowalkiewicz’s but it deserves a slight bump. It doesn’t seem they knew what to do with Cris Cyborg so they basically gave her Amanda Nunes’ stats even though Cyborg is the more refined of the two. And Cyborg definitely has better stamina than Nunes.

It would be interesting to find out what panel of experts EA consulted when putting together their scores. Adjusting the scores for accuracy would make players rely on their own skills and not necessarily the stats of their chosen fighter. And yes, that means making all those Conor fans work around his weak kicks and terrible cardio. On the bright side, Mighty Mouse has better stats than everyone at flyweight and bantamweight. He also has the highest overall score among champions and most likely the entire roster with an average of 93.5.

The post EA UFC 3 Rating System: Where They Went Wrong appeared first on Cageside Press.