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By Anthony De Franco  March 1, 2010, at 2:25 am  There is a lot to report in the world of video game MMA. THQ has begun the UFC 2010: Undisputed news cycle as they are going to release a new blog post every tuesday and Thursday, and do a Q & A with the community every two weeks. Be sure to get your questions in on their forums to make sure that they get answered.
Of course, We’ll be here to break down the news for all the true MMA fans. You know, all the people who are more excited about Gogopalatas than Kimbo Slice.
Let’s get started with some of the answers from this week’s Q & A:
Q: Are there going to be TKO’s due to injury and stoppage in Undisputed 2010?
Yes! Victories in 2010 can be achieved in a number of ways, one of which is stoppage due to cuts and injury. Did anyone tune in to UFC 110 and see the Bonnar fight that ended due to ref/doctor stoppage? ‘Stoppage’ was one of the biggest requests from our fan base, so we just had to implement these victory conditions.
A welcome addition for sure. MMA is a complex sport that has a lot of different ways to end a fight, and as such all of them should be represented in virtual form. It remains to be seen if Herb Dean is going to dive in and pull you off of your counterpart, but I hope he does.
Q: KO animations: have they changed?
Completely. Last year, we divulged that KO animations were a combination of animation and free form physics. The same is still true this year, but we changed a few things…We’ve emphasized the physics share of the equation much more. This makes the Knockout a much more high fidelity experience. How the KO looks will also be a product of how a player gets his lights put out: depending on where and how hard you land a strike, you’ll get a different looking KO. Cant wait to see some community compilations come May!
Last year, one of my biggest gripes with the game was the flying mouthpieces. While it was cool the first few times, it just made the whole thing feel fake. Now, no word on if that still happens, but we do get new KO animations. Let’s just hope that knocked out fighters don’t end up looking like ragdolls.
Q: Whats up with the game menu this year?
We redesigned the entire navigation system so you can get to where you want quickly and easily. ‘Nuff said.
Thank you, Jesus. Last year’s game was so clumsy in terms of menu navigation that it made not want to change the sponsors on my shorts in career mode. Seriously, it took SIX clicks of the “A” button to change one logo on my shorts. Does that make any sense to anyone? It’s good to hear that this complaint was heard. Hopefully the menu system makes more sense the second time around.
Alright, that is it from the Q & A, so let’s move on to the Blog entry regarding submissions.
We’ve kept the bread and butter subs that you know and love from last year’s Undisputed, but we’ve added some great variations and new options for those who want to use them. We saw a ton of people asking for the full Omoplata submission in 2010, which you’ll now be able to execute in the virtual octagon. Even the rare and elusive Gogoplata is making its Undisputed 2010 debut. Nothing spells ‘awesome’ like an shoulder lock to submission, right?
We’ve also added the Americana, D’Arce (think Thiago vs Swick in UFC 109), Peruvian Necktie, Achilles lock, Ankle Lock, Heel Hook, Arm Triangle, and tons of leg locks, just to name a few. You’ll even see some Ultimate fighters breaking out their signature subs on the mat, like BJ Penn’s rear naked choke by way of arm trap (think UFC 101 and his submission of Kenny Florian).
In addition to over twice as many new submissions along with their own distinct animations, there are new positions from which you can attempt a submission. Your posture when in the guard will affect what submission you can initiate. So if you’re down posture, you’ll be going for a Kimura whereas if your postured up, you’ll be going for a kneebar.
Another complaint from last year’s game was that there simply were not enough submissions. Now, that should be solved as just about every submission I can think of that I’ve seen in a fight in the last five or six years is in there. Well, actaully, there is no anaconda choke, which has to annoy Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira.
Nothing lifeshattering, but some good reveals nonetheless.
By Anthony De Franco January 11, 2010, at 3:31 am I sat in Jason’s house watching WEC 46 and Jay asked me an excellent question: “Can you explain Faber’s insane popularity?”
Let’s be honest. As much as we cover MMA like it is a mainstream sport, there are few fighters that enjoy the kind of popularity that Urijah does. If you asked to explain it, I would say that it’s a combination of fantastic work ethic, entertaining fights, down-to-earth mentality and good looks.
However, if there is one thing about Urijah to love, I would say it’s his take over the world ambition. The dude is already one of the best pound for pound fighters in the word, and what does he do in his spare time? Opens clothing company. Welcome to FORM athletics, owned and operated by Urijah Faber.
Faber joins Josh Koscheck as fighters to now own their own clothing line. And yes, we are working on getting some MAR (Koscheck’s line) gear in the store.
As for the shirt, It’s simple. It’s a got a big AMP energy logo on it, but for the amount I’m sure they pay Urijah, it was well worth it.
MMA Warehouse carries it for a low-low price of 29.99.
For more Urijah Faber gear, check out The 3rd String Store.
By Matt Soldano January 8, 2010, at 4:58 pm On this week’s edition on College Basketball 2Nite: The Late Game Situation, Brandon Steinberger and I predicted winners for the six major conferences starting from the Pac-10 and ending with the ACC. Here is what we think:
Pac-10: Soldano – Washington, Stein – Washington State
Big 12: Unanimous – Texas
Big Ten: Soldano – Purdue, Stein – Ohio State
SEC: Unanimous – Kentucky
Big East: Soldano – Syracuse, Stein – West Virginia
ACC: Soldano – North Carolina, Stein – Maryland
Here are the official lineups for Fantasy Shots Week 6: (Soldano 3-2, Stein 2-3)
Stein:
G – Gordon Hayward, Butler (16.6 ppg, 9.1 reb) – 1/10 vs. Detroit
G – Elliot Williams, Memphis (19 ppg, 4.5 asts) – 1/13 vs. East Carolina
G – Raymond Taylor, Florida Atlantic (16.8 ppg, 6.5 asts) – 1/9 vs. Louisville-Monroe
F – Wesley Johnson, Syracuse (17.3 ppg, 8.7 reb) – 1/10 vs. South Florida
F – Yancy Gates, Cincinnati (10.4 ppg, 6.7 reb) – 1/13 vs. St. John’s
Quinnipiac over Wagner – 1/9
Temple over Pennsylvania – 1/13
Soldano:
G – Ishmael Smith, Wake Forest (12.9 ppg, 5.8 asts) – 1/12 vs. Maryland
G – LaceDarius Dunn, Baylor (17.6 ppg, 3.7 reb) – 1/12 vs. Colorado
G – Ashton Gibbs, Pittsburgh (17.5 ppg, 2.7 reb) – 1/13 vs. UConn
F – Lance Stephenson, Cincinnati (12.5 ppg, 4.8 reb) – 1/13 vs. St. John’s
F – Jarvis Varnado, Mississippi State (14.3 ppg, 10.9 reb) – 1/14 vs. Arkansas
Texas over Colorado – 1/9
Kansas State over Texas A&M – 1/12
By Matt Soldano January 2, 2010, at 11:47 am He is off the schnide folks! In what was “the closest fantasy shots week ever”, Stein went 5-0-2 to get his first win of the season. Here were the lines:
Stein: 61 pts, 17 ast, 47 reb, 11 stls, 8 blks, 2 team wins
Soldano: 60 pts, 10 ast, 34 reb, 10 stls, 7 blks, 2 team wins
Here are our fantasy shots for the week of 1/2-1/7:
Stein’s Team:
G – Larry Drew II, North Carolina (8.4 ppg, 6.4 asts) – 1/4 vs. Charleston
G – Grievis Vazquez, Maryland (17 ppg, 5 reb, 6 asts) – 1/3 vs. UNC Greensboro
G – Jon Scheyer, Duke (18.6 ppg, 6.4 asts) – 1/6 vs. Iowa State
F – Kevin Thompson, Morgan State (14.4 ppg, 13.3 reb) – 1/4 vs. Robert Morris
F – Artsiom, Parakhouski, Radford (23 ppg, 13.3 reb) – 1/4 vs. Gardner Webb
Georgia Tech over Georgia – 1/5
Villanova over DePaul – 1/5
Soldano’s Team:
G – John Wall, Kentucky (17.2 ppg, 7.5 asts) – 1/2 vs. Louisville
G – Jeremy Hazell, Seton Hall (23.3 ppg, 4 reb) – 1/2 vs. Virginia Tech
G – E’Twuan Moore, Purdue (16.3 ppg, 3.5 reb) – 1/5 vs. Minnesota
F – Solomon Alabi, Florida State (12 ppg, 7 reb, 3 blks) – 1/4 vs. Texas A&M-CC
F – Dexter Pittman, Texas (14 ppg, 7 reb) – 1/5 vs. Arkansas
New Mexico over San Diego State – 1/5
Temple over St. Joseph’s – 1/6
Current Standings:
Soldano (3-1)
Stein (1-3)
College Basketball 2Nite: The Late Game Situation returns Friday night at 11 pm (EST) on WCWPSports.
By Bryan Berg December 26, 2009, at 9:38 pm When the Rangers scored with 47 seconds left in the third period to tie tonight’s game at 2, I assumed that was it for the Islanders. The Rangers would go on to win in overtime; if they didn’t do that, they’d win in the shootout. I had my mental consolation speech prepared. It went something like this: “It’s a damn shame they didn’t win tonight. Kyle Okposo was a beast. Even if he never scores again, he should make the U.S. Olympic team, because he still makes things happen. Oh, and I f*&@ing hate the Rangers.”
Then, almost out of nowhere, Kyle Okposo, he who was a beast tonight, fired off a wrist shot that deflected off Marc Staal’s skate, then the post, and then found the back of the net. Islanders win in overtime.
MSG Plus gave us a bunch of stats that I thought said a lot about these two teams. First, Brandon Dubinsky’s second goal gave the Rangers their first point in a game where they trailed after two periods. That’s plenty of fodder for the “The Rangers have no heart” chorus. Second, the Islanders earned their 37th point a full 13 games before they hit the 37-point mark last year. Third, the one we all know a little too well, this was Okposo’s first goal in nineteen games. Lastly, and perhaps most pathetically, the Islanders have consecutive wins for the first time in almost two months.
Yes, the Islanders gave up a crucial point to the Rangers, a team they may be battling for a playoff spot later this season. But this was a big win for the Islanders. They took it to their biggest rivals tonight and got two points. They got a bit of a raw deal with the schedule – their game against the Flyers tomorrow starts just 22 hours from the drop of the puck tonight – but the Flyers are terrible and the Islanders are riding a great wave of momentum. Truly, there’s no reason why they can’t beat Philadelphia tomorrow night; there’s even less reason why they can’t beat Columbus on Tuesday night. That’d be four in a row. It probably wouldn’t get the Isles into the top eight before the end of the year, but it certainly would send them into 2010 on a positive note.
Huge win tonight. And one last note on Okposo – now that he’s broken his goal drought, look for him to heat up in the very immediate future.
By Jason Comack September 22, 2009, at 9:26 pm Through his website, Rampage-Jackson.com, Rampage has announced his retirement. Rampage posted a very modest and straightforward letter that explains everything from the Rashad Drama, his relationship with Dana White and his underlying motives for taking the “A-Team” movie. Rampage makes some really good points and it’s hard not to feel sympathetic for him after reading this.
“The UFC has done a lot for me but I think I have done more for them. The UFC bought WFA to get my contract & they saved my life, so I felt loyal to them. They pushed me into a fight with Chuck Liddel even when I clearly stated I wasn’t ready to fight for the belt because the American fans didn’t know me but I took the fight and didn’t complain & after I won the American fans booed me for the first time which changed the way I saw them & it hurt me deeply.
Then before I can even get out of the cage they announced that I was fighting Dan Henderson without even asking me. After I beat Dan Henderson, I made history in becoming the first undisputed champion in MMA but was never even given the pride belt in the cage & I was never promoted as the undisputed champ. Later Anderson Silva was.
Then they had me coach TUF season 7 and fight Forrest and the fight was very controversial & normally when a fight is that close & controversial there is normally an instant replay. I can name a couple of instances. Instead they offered me the Vanderlei Silva fight which I gladly accepted even though I know it was a very risky fight for me to take because of all the drama that was happening to me at the time. I fought that fight with a jaw injury and then a couple weeks later Dana called me and asked me to fight Rashad. For the first time I said no, I didn’t want to fight because it was such short notice & I wouldn’t have had a long break between camp. Dana talked me into fighting Rashad anyway but Rashad refused the fight and so I had to fight Jardine as a favor to the UFC instead of getting my belt back (which wasn’t even worth it to me financially).
Then I reinjured my jaw in the fight with Vanderlei & Jardine. Frank Mir gets hurt so they wanted to switch my fight from UFC 100 to the fight Frank couldn’t make it to but I couldn’t fight cause I needed jaw surgury. So they give Machida the fight against Rashad & they told me they want me to coach TUF season 10 against Rashad. That’s why I wanted Rashad to win so bad but when Rashad got knocked out I told them I wanted to fight Machida for the belt but Dana told me if I coach TUF against Rashad that I could fight Machida afterwards cause this was a different type of ultimate fighter show they were doing. After I signed the contract Dana then changes his mind & says I have to fight Rashad & even told me what to say in the press & so my fans think I was scared to fight Machida. After all that I still never complained & I did it all.
Then this movie role came about that I have been trying to get for over a year & as soon as I found out I was close to getting it, I called Dana right away & asked to push the Memphis fight back just a month or so. I told him what this movie role meant to me. I told him that I used to bond with my father watching the tv show as a kid when my parents where still married & it represents the memories I had with my father when we lived together. My dad became an alcohalic & addicted to drugs & we grew apart. But after my dad got his life back together, I was so proud of my dad & I told him I would always take care of him in the future & make him proud of me. My dad & I are still very big fans of the show & I am basically doing this for the childhood memories I had spending time in front of the tv with my dad. Dana went on the internet & mocked me because of that & I still did nothing. Dana & I finally talked & we made up & then after that he went back on the internet & said some bullshit & he was talking bad about the movie when information is not even supposed to be released & talking about payments which is not even true could really hurt my future acting career, which could very well last longer than my fighting career. I’m not like Randy Couture. My body has been getting so many different injuries that I wont be able to fight until my forties & neither do I want to fight that long. So I feel like my second career could be in jeopardy.. so I’m done fighting. I’ve been getting negative reviews from the dumb ass fans that don’t pay my bills or put my kids though college. So I’m hanging it up. I’m gonna miss all my loyal fans but hopefully they’ll follow me to my new career & I will gain more loyal fans along the way. & all you hater fans out there can kiss my big black hairy ass! & anybody that don’t like what I just said can come try to kick my ass!
I still feel the UFC is a great organization and I felt like I was very loyal to them but they didn’t respect my loyalty but I wish the UFC the best. I did a lot of things for them. I wish no bad blood between us but I have kids & a family back in Memphis to provide for & thats all that matters to me!”
Wow just wow. Think Dana White blew this one big time. Have a feeling his response is going to be explosive.
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