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By Anthony De Franco  March 14, 2010, at 9:00 am
Love Nintendo? Love Kimbo Slice? Well do I have news for you!
This shirt is similar to the one that TapouT put out for Jens Pulver for WEC 47. For whatever reason, people seem to find these 8-bit shirts nostalgic. Come to think of it, I suddenly want to KO Glass Joe…

The back has the 8-bit font saying “All Day” which is Kimbo’s nickname. I know a ton of people who are going to be in front of their TV for Kimbo’s next fight, and a bunch will be wearing this shirt.
MMA Warehouse lets you wear Kimbo for 27.99.
For more Kimbo gear, check out The 3rd String Store.
By Anthony De Franco  March 14, 2010, at 5:25 am
Each week, THQ has decided to answer some questions that the public has about UFC 2010: Undisputed. Since most game sites aren’t exactly versed in Mixed Martial Arts, We’re here to breakdown what the answers mean to us fans.
A quick note before we get started this week. If you are amongst the people leaving questions (which you should do), then please think about what you are writing. Far, Far too many people are focusing on the wrong things. I’ve seen some pretty rediculous questions on the thread, including beating on already unconscious opponents, and having UFC 1 style matches with no rules. Let’s think people.
Now, on to the questions!
XPlicit asks, “When you notice your opponent is rocked can you rush them as hard as you can and throw with all your might wasting every last bit of energy just to finish that person.”
You will get a bonus after you rock an opponent. We implemented the new “Adrenaline Rush” system into fights which should make things pretty interesting. You will not be conferred a movement speed bonus, but your fighter will have his energy replenished. This means you can execute the full array of moves without worrying about getting gassed yourself. We wanted to give the player that feeling of mastery and dominance that comes with rocking an opponent and following through on it in the real Octagon — from playing with it and testing it, it brings a ton of excitement to Undisputed 2010.
Interesting development. One of the complaints that was common last year is that every rocked situation ended the same the way. The winner would just stand over the helpless loser throwing bombs until the fight was stopped. The “Adrenaline Rush” would seem to indicate that the stamina boost will be necessary to try and finish fights, which means there will be someway to recover from being rocked.
Fornez1 Asks “How will escaping submissions work with the new system? will you always wind up in an advantages position or will sometimes you escape to standing and sometimes escape to side mount(for example)”
Last year, when you failed a submission, you’d almost always end up in a tough situation — usually on your back or with a player in control. We wanted to move away from this system and towards more of an organic, and realistic submission escape system. There are a number of positions that you can escape into that are beneficial, neutral, and even disadvantageous depending upon what has been happening during the fight. In keeping it real as it gets, escapes will never result in only side control or a full guard.
Another complaint from last year addressed. Fighters never really escape submissions and wind up in dominant positions. Last year, so many subs would be reversed into side mount that it often was worth it try for the submissions. This should also take away some of the predictably from a game that was stiff last year.
SleepyWeasel asks “In the new Career mode, does your fighter age at all? Or does he stay the same age throughout the entire career?”
Your fighter, and all other fighters will age. Aging occurs in two ways. As your fighter becomes more experienced at certain skills and moves after training, it’ll become easier and easier to better maintain your proficiency in that field. For example, once you get so good at wrestling, you don’t have to train as extensively to keep up your skill as a wrestler. On the other hand, we’ve implemented a decay system that’s a function of your age. Once your fighter gets up there in the years, you’ll find that you need to focus on maintaining your core stats through your weekly training routine a bit more to stay fresh in the Octagon. Along your career mode playthrough, you’ll even see the greats of the UFC retiring.
Yes. Thank goodness. Last year’s career mode was underutilized in many different ways. One of the main ones was that once you became champion, you fought the same people over and over again. As fun as it is beating down B.J. Penn, I wanted some new blood for my fighter to face. This year, it seems that the divisions will be thinned out by retiring fighters and re-stocked with new talent. One big step for a better career mode.
Kurowski God asks “Are there different “rocked” stages, like you hit with a head kick, maybe he gets more rocked then a good right hook.”
In this year’s game, we shared that you can be rocked from any position and by almost every move. While these moves, and by extension the rocked states that they’ll be causing, will look different depending upon what you do (head kick, uppercut), being rocked will not have varying degrees of ‘rockiness’ or grogginess. What’s important is how the player who rocked the other executes his next few moves. If you have your combos down and have excellent timing, you’ll be able to quickly level some devastating moves on your groggy opponent — you might even knock him out. These ‘follow up’ combos are going to be tough to execute, as any other button inputs after the rocked animation will derail the combo. But the skilled player who uses caution and foresight when he knows his opponent is struggling will get an awesome payoff.
This seems to relate to the first question of the day. It seems that some skill will be needed this year to finish a rocked opponent. It’s no longer enough to just land the big punch and pound out every opponent. This should lead to longer fights and more decisions.
Check back Tomorrow afternoon for the full B.J. Penn Trailer!

By Anthony De Franco  March 13, 2010, at 12:45 pm
Is the Iceman coming back sooner than we thought?
According to Fighters only, his return may be roughly a month away. Chuck would forgo his UFC 115 fight with Tito Ortiz to take on former middleweight champion Rich Franklin on April 15th. This, of course, is the same day that Strikeforce will be on CBS, with the main event being Dan Henderson v. Jake Shields.
Chuck Liddell will be fighting Rich Franklin in his next bout and not rival TUF 11 coach Tito Ortiz, Fighters Only has heard from a reliable source. The switch was initially reported to us just under two weeks ago but was only a rumour at that time.
However, the rumour hit message boards late last night and an industry source confirmed that Liddell will indeed be facing former middleweight champion Rich Franklin. The fight is to headline an April 17th Fight Night event which will counter Strikeforce’s show on the same date.
Bloody Elbow (which is just an awesome site) is quick to point out that Fighters only is credentialed by the UFC, which means that this claim probably has some legitimacy to it.
Let’s look at what this does for the UFC. First off, they will lose the UFC 115 main event between Ortiz and Liddell. This fight had a chance to be a big PPV moneymaker, so there are some who will question Zuffa’s logic. Instead, they will put the Iceman on free cable, and some that he draws some eyes over from CBS.

Inside the cage, this should be an interesting fight, and it’s a win-win for Dana White. If Liddell loses, he will likely retire, which Dana publicly said that he would like Chuck to. That would mean that Franklin is back on the map in the light heavyweight division with a win over someone who, at the very least, is still a name.
If Liddell wins, then Chuck will likely be given another fight, and that one would not be free. Even if Liddell isn’t a championship caliber fighter anymore, he is still a name that can make money.
It’s also an interesting test of Liddell’s drawing power. Can Chuck still draw like The Iceman could a couple of years ago or are people going to think of him like they do LaDanian Tomlinson nowadays and react with general apathy?
If this fight goes off, there are a lot of interesting dynamics involved
[Update: (1:37 PM) Okay, maybe not. MMA Junkie is now reporting that Liddell and Franklin will take place as the main event of UFC 115, not on a new card scheduled for April. They also are reporting some other strange news...]
By Anthony De Franco  March 13, 2010, at 9:00 am
Say what you will about Jason “Mayhem” Miller, but people seem to like him. He has his own show on MTV, Bully Beatdown and despite what some people think, he’s actually a pretty decent fighter. It’s just sometimes his brash personality gets in the way of people seeing him for the fighter he is.
And he’s annoying. But that’s just me.

Miller’s shirt is kind of like his personality. LOUD. It’s got a really interesting graphic on the front and the word Mayhem spelled out in big glittery letters. Right up Mayhem’s alley.
MMA Warehouse hooks you up for 27.99.
For more TapouT shirts, check out The 3rd String Store.
By Anthony De Franco  March 13, 2010, at 5:50 am
Now, this is interesting.
These three guys were all Arizona State Alums, and they make up a decent portion of the roster at ACS. However, they are moving on to greener pastures, according to MMA Madness:
The move by the three UFC competitors and Arizona State alums comes at a curious time as all are coming off the biggest wins of their careers. Bader defeated Keith Jardine via third round TKO at UFC 110, Dolloway took home a unanimous decision that same night against Goran Reljic and Simpson defeated Tom Lawlor at UFC Fight Night 20 in January.
There is a way to look at this as an overdue occurrence. Bader and Dolloway both were considered scalding hot prospects when they came off their respective season of TUF. Both have stalled in their careers in some way.
Dolloway has had an up and down run in the UFC, Losing to Amir Sadollah (twice, although once doesn’t count because it was on TUF) and Tom Lawlor. He is 4-2 in the UFC, but has underacheived in the eyes of many.

Bader is yet to lose in the Octagon, or anywhere else for that manner, but really has failed to impress in his last couple of fights. After knocking out Vinny Magalahes in the TUF 8 Finale, he has won three fights. He went to decisions against inferior fighters Carmelo Marrero and Eric Schafer and needed a third round knockout to defeat Keith Jardine at UFC 110. In all three fights, he has gassed after the first round, and showed exactly zero improvement in the standup game. His boxing remains rudimentary, and he relies too much on the Dan Henderson approach, trying to knock everyone out with one big right hand.
Of course, a move like this not without fallout. ACS member and all-around MMA villian Jamie Varner had something to say about this on The UG:
“I’ve been at AZ combat for 6 years now this gym builds fighters from the ground up! None of those guys would be where they are with out there training partners and the Lallys! Some douche bags like to talk shit but our gym is battle tested and proven! When Riggs left he started losing and got cut from the UFC. When Fickett got kicked out he started losing and got kicked out of the UFC! I’m very interested to see what happens with those guys I wish them nothing but the best in there careers, but they made a HUGE mistake!”
Jamie Varner
Okay, here is my plead to all athletes. I understand wanting to be in touch with your fans. That’s cool. That’s why things like Twitter (Especially our Twitter!) are awesome. However, don’t directly make statements like this without thinking about it. Varner is already in enough trouble with MMA fans, and now he comes out with this statement which makes him sound bitter. Did he really have to point out that Joe Riggs and Drew Fickett left they started losing? Was it ACS, or simply that neither of those guys could compete in the UFC?
Expect these three guys to land together somewhere on the west coast. The question is where?
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