While it’s a really cool video, and B.J.’s narration definitely gets you seriously pumped up, I’m a little bit upset that we didn’t get a little bit more gameplay. There are a few things that I noticed:
In the first bit of gameplay, B.J. lands a really nasty looking takedown. You can tell the animations have improved from last year, where every double leg looked the same.
The second gameplay bit shows B.J. trainsitioning to rubber guard, and this also appears to be reanimated. It also could be him setting up for a triangle as well.
The third gameplay shot shows B.J. throwing bombs from back mount. Correct me If I’m wrong, but I don’t think that was an option last year, as any thing you had the opponent back, you rolled him over to attempt a rear naked choke.
We get to see some of B.J.’s signature style next with the arm trap against Matt Hughes. It looks awesome. Enough said. I can you tell you right now that Jason’s CAF will have that ability.
Next up, we see B.J. in his UFC 107 Walkout Shirt, wearing the belt in game. Was the belt redesigned? I’m thinking maybe. All I know, is that it looks shiny and It makes me want it around my waist. The shirt looks exactly like it’s real life counterpart.
The Kenny Florian section shows some B.J. pressing Kenny up against the cage, and generally kicking his ass all over the octagon. Just reminds me what a big letdown Kenny’s gameplan in that fight was.
The rest of the video shows off the redesigned clinch, but is hard to tell the difference from two brief seconds of gameplay. It also B.J. slipping a punch which looks slick.
Not the massive reveal that I hoped it would be, but I’m definitely pumped for May 25th even more now.
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.
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.
I am eagerly anticipating the next season of Bellator. They are signing so many top prospects that could be future stars that it’s easy to forget that they have one of the top lightweights in the world already in the fold. Eddie Alvarez will return to the cage to take on Josh Neer in May, according to a press release from Bellator.
CHICAGO, Ill. (February 16, 2010) — Bellator Fighting Championships announced today that its reigning lightweight champion, Eddie Alvarez, the No. 2-ranked lightweight in the world, will square off in a non-title “Super Fight” with UFC veteran Josh “The Dentist” Neer under the Bellator banner this May.
The fight is the first Super Fight matchup to be announced by Bellator, which is now gearing up for its much-anticipated nationally-televised second season. These non-tournament, non-title catch-weight fights will pit Bellator’s Season 1 Champions — Alvarez, Joe Soto, Lyman Good and Hector Lombard — against top competition as they prepare to defend their titles from Bellator’s Season 2 tournament winners this fall.
First off, I don’t know who has Alvarez ranked second, but I’d like to meet him. I’d put Kenny Florian, and even Shinya Aoki in front of him. That doesn’t change the fact that he is a top five fighter. His last fight was at DREAM 12 where he defeated Katsunori Kikuno by arm triangle in round two. The Philadelphia-based boxer/wrestler won season one of Bellator by defeating Toby Imada in the finals.
Josh Neer was recently released by the UFC after losing consecutive fights to Kurt Pellegrino and Gleison Tibau. Altogether, he was 2-3 in the UFC before being released. A good ground fighter, his specialty is the standup which is where he earned his nickname “The Dentist.” He provides veteran competition to Alvarez, but shouldn’t provide the favorite too much of a problem.
A quick thought about this fight: Why is it non-title? What is the point of creating a belt if they aren’t going to make the champ defend it?
Starting in October 2009, a partnership with MMA Warehouse will allow us to highlight some of the best Mixed Martial Arts gear that they have on their website. Here’s all the newest stuff.
Griffin looks like he’s going to take on Evan Dunham at UFC 115 and try to avoid the fate that Efrain Escudero suffered. At the very least he should try and keep his arm.
Slice is confirmed to be fighting Matt Mitrione at UFC 113. I never thought I would say this, but I’m rooting for Slice. I don’t think he’s gotten a fair shake from a lot of people. Plus, Mitrione is kind of a dick.
Velasquez gets thrown into the fire against Antonio “Minotauro” Noguiera in just two weeks. Anyone else pumped for the end of these UFC cards that have been gutted by injuries?
How good is Couture? It’s scary. It’s always good when a wrestler in rear naked choking people. Don’t be shocked if Couture is in the title picture, and soon.
Does Dana honestly expect us to believe that he won’t capitalize on the hype that Tito Ortiz and Mark Coleman put on the other day? When Ortiz loses to Liddell again, we’ll see Tito and Coleman.
As May 25th draws closer, I’m getting more and more pumped for UFC 2010: Undisputed. After last year’s game was awesome, you can only assume that this year’s is going to be even better. IGN.com did a first look at the game this weekend, and I’ll be bringing you the MMA fans view of some of the news.
Let’s get started.
Moments ago, the company ran UFC Undisputed 2010 through its first public match – Mike Swick versus Paulo Thiago – and although the gameplay demo was extremely short, THQ promised and showcased some really good stuff. For starters and piggybacking off of my complaint, the static animations of 2009 are gone. When your fighters are in the prone position or mid-hold, they’re not just sitting there — they’re living and breathing. You’ll see your arm struggle against a hold as you try and break it, there are transitions between takedowns, and – thank the Lord – there are cage moves. This year, if you’re good enough, you’re going to be able to slam coverboy Brock Lesnar up against the chain link and wail on his ribcage.
This is a great thing. The game did have a “rock’em, sock’em robots” feel to it at times because most of animations were stiff. This was especially true in the ground game, as the opponent would stand still during transitions. Besides that, cage work was one of the biggest gripes of players last year. The fact that the fights took place in a cage, but you couldn’t interact with it was a bit ridiculous. Look for things like clinches, flurries against the cage and switching levels for takedowns to be included this year.
You can switch to the southpaw stance if you click in on the right joystick, the fight animations have been quadrupled, the clinch has been reanimated, the number of front submissions have been doubled, there’s a new targeting system, and there are individual submissions like B.J. Penn’s arm trap. Not enough octagon goodness? THQ has added karate, Greco-Roman wrestling, and Sambo fighting styles while doing away with archetypes for fighters – created fighters will now use individual movesets.
All good news once again. Fighters like Rich Franklin will feel more realistic due to the addition of the south paw stance. More of anything is never a bad thing, and more submissions and animations are a really good thing. The same goes for more fighting styles as the original six that were in the game simply weren’t enough. Since they did away with archetypes, I wonder how the new movesets will work. MMA is a sport where everyone knows how to do pretty much everything, just with varying levels of skills and success. Will my boxer not be able to throw muay thai knees? Will a wrestler not be able to use a triangle? Actually, that one kinda makes sense. Still, I’m curious of how that is going to work. Fighter specific animations are cool, but it made Anderson Silva a bitch to play with last year.
It did look sweet – the graphics are no doubt sharper than last year, as sweat clung to the fighters’ chests and blood spurted out as punches rained down on Thiago’s face – but that was about it. To drive home that TV presentation, the match ended with the fighters in the ring in post-fight outfits such as Swick’s “Dethrone Royalty Texas” shirt.
YYEEESSSSS. Call me a dork, but I think that the presentation is so important. Thinks like walkout shirts and banners for the fighters makes it feel more like an actual UFC. Besides, I already shot walking out in the Josh Koscheck UFC 106 walkout shirt.
It wasn’t shown, but a THQ press release makes it sound like UFC Undisputed 2010 is making a serious play for one of the best online fighting games. In this year’s game you’ll apparently be able to form “fight camps and leagues, train like real-life UFC fighters and go online to compete against other camps.” There will be online co-op sparring sessions that dictate your credibility, popularity and the types of sponsorships you get. On top of that, this year’s career mode will include the “Game Is Watching You” system, which will “track every action and use this information to dictate in-game commentary, opponent intelligence and overall career progression.”
This is meaty stuff. The online “camp” system sounds awesome. Sign-ups for The 3rd String Safety camp will come. Since Jason sucks, we’ll need good fighters. Similar to NBA2K10, the game seems to use a dynamic commentary system which should bring your created character to life, which is a breath of fresh air after last year’s game. They barely even mentioned your character last year.
Typically in the world of video games, the first year a sports game comes out is dedicated to getting the gameplay right. THQ did that just about perfectly. The second year is when they add all the features that they wanted to add in year one but didn’t have time. That seems to be the direction that Undisputed is headed.
UFC 2010: Undisputed comes out on May 25th. Yes, my copy is already pre-ordered.
The Fighters: The back-story of this fight has been beaten to death so I’ll give a quick version. These two were suppose to meet at UFC 17, sometime in the Middle Ages I think. Couture basically wrote the book on how to use dirty boxing and the Greco-Roman clinch in MMA and Coleman is the Godfather of modern day Ground-and-Pound. However, both are in their senior years and Don Fryes description of the fight as “grizzly bear sex” might not be that far off.
Breakdown: Can either of these fighters take the other one down? That might be the great question in this fight as neither of these fighters have had to fight on their back a ton during their career. Couture should have a significant advantage if the fight stays on it’s feet. His boxing has evolved a ton as we saw in the Tim Slyvia fight while Coleman still boxes like it’s 1996.
When this fight was booked I never really saw the appeal. I didn’t know beating Stephan Bonnar, on the under-card, got you into a main event these days. Let’s face the facts Coleman is a hall of famer and pioneer in the sport but he hasn’t had a significant win this decade. As for Couture he looked great in his heavyweight comeback against Slyvia and Gonzaga. And to this day he gave Lesnar the toughest run his for his money (besides obviously win.) But those fights were two years ago already. He looked a step slow against ‘Nog and lackluster against Vera. It’s impossible to count the man out but time seems to have caught up to Captain America.
I expect Couture to have his hand raised at the end of the fight. I’m just not sure what it proves. It’s 2010 not 1995.
Prediction: Couture TKO Round 2
-Nate Marquardt (29-8-2) vs. Chael Sonnen (23-10-1)
The Fighters: Marquardt is the best well rounded Middleweight this side of Anderson Silva. He is a solid wrestler, with good submission skills who strings together combos like MMA is a video-game. Since his loss to Anderson Silva over two years ago he’s improved leaps and bounds. He’s 8-2 in the UFC and is currently riding a three fight win streak.
Sonnen dropped from 205 to 185 and it totally rejuvenated his career. He’s won 4 of his last 5 fights with his only loss being to top contender Damien Maia. Sonnen is a wrestler who fights a lot like Randy Couture. He looks to close distance and bully you to the ground. If he has his way every fight would look like his fight against Yushin Okami.
Breakdown: In this fight Nate will have a significant advantage while standing and if Sonnen can’t get it to the ground quickly it’ll be lights out for him. Sonnen does a good job of implying his will agaisnt the cage but even if does get Marquardt down he still will find himself in trouble. Sonnen has been prone to being submitted in his career; Philo, Sobral, Horn just to name a few. Marquardt has been training and wrestling with G.S.P and something tells me that makes you 75% better by osmosis. Taking Nate down won’t be an easy task.
The winner of the fight gets Anderson Silva and Sonnen has been talking a lot of crap (half of which doesn’t make any sense.) If I were him I wouldn’t try hyping an Anderson Silva fight when Nate The Great is standing directly in his way.
Prediction: Marquardt K.O. Round 2
-Demian Maia (11-1) vs. Dan Miller (11-2)
The Fighters: Maia came into the UFC and proved that jiu-jitsu alone could still consistently win fights. An impressive task that we haven’t seen in the modern age of MMA. Maia submitted his first 5 UFC opponents before being crushed by Nate Marquardt.
New Jersey native and Ring Of Combat vet Dan Miller has also had an impressive UFC run. He’s 3-1 in the UFC and coming off his first UFC loss (to the aforementioned Sonnen.) Miller is an adequate striker but relies on a combination of wrestling and jiu-jitsu to smother his opponents.
Breakdown: Maia is a pretty terrible match-up for anyone in the middleweight division and Miller plays right into his strengths. Miller will have an advantage on the fight but he isn’t a prolific striker like Marquardt is. Miller can reverse wrestle to try to keep this standing but I can’t imagine it will for all three rounds. Maia is one of the few fighters who can pull guard effectively and has an unreal knack for making good jiu-jitsu guys look bad.
Prediction: Maia Arm-Bar Round 3
-Matt Serra (9-6) vs. Frank Trigg (19-7)
The Fighters: The charismatic Serra has done a very good job of keeping himself relevant. After all he’s 6-6 in the UFC yet still somehow remains incredibly popular. Serra’s frame, 5′6, isn’t the most conducive to welter-weight but the former light weight fighter simply can’t make 155 pounds anymore. Serra has great jiu-jitsu but he never seems to use it offensively in MMA. Believe it or not only 1 of his UFC wins was by submission. Serra’s wrestling is underrated as is his K.O power.
Frank Trigg rejuvenated himself at middleweight outside of the UFC. His return to the UFC hasn’t gone as planned. He was K.O’d by Josh Koscheck, who is basically a younger version of Trigg in his prime. Trigg looked more then a step slow in that fight.
Breakdown: Trigg will have a size and reach advantage but that might be where the list ends. While many think Trigg will be able to grind his way to a ground and pound win Serra surprised with his wrestling acumen in the Hughes fight. He even reversed the vaunted wrestler at one point. Trigg is not Matt Hughes. While standing Serra should have a significant advantage and has K.O power that Trigg doesn’t.
I love Trigg but this might be the end of the line for Twinkle-Toes.
Prediction: Serra K.O. Round 3
-Paulo Thiago (12-1) vs. Mike Swick (14-3)
The Fighters: Paulo Thiago is apparently the most bad-ass man in Brazil. And he definitely looks like a dude you wouldn’t want to cross. Thiago burst onto the scene with a quick K.O victory over Josh Koscheck. He’s 2-1 in the UFC, with the only loss being to Jon Fitch. Thiago has K.O power and great jiu-jitsu skills he has yet to display in the UFC.
Mike “Quick” Swick is a veteran of Season 1 of the Ultimate Fighter. Swick was in the process of cementing himself as a middleweight contender before running into Yushin Okami. In the Okami fight Swick was out-muscled and bullied around. The loss made him drop to 170 pounds where again he was on the verge of a title shot before losing to Dan Hardy. Swick is 9-2 in the UFC, 5-1 at Middleweight and 4-1 at Welterweight. Swick is known for his lighting fast and accurate hands, he truly earned his nickname quick. As his MMA game has evolved he’s become a very sound wrestler. Training with ‘Kos and Jon Fitch everyday probably had a lot to do with that.
Breakdown: Swick likes to flurry and throw punches in bunches. However in his last fight against Dan Hardy we didn’t see the same Mike Swick. He seemed a step slow and hesitant. Whether or not he was still feeling the effects of his concussion at the time remain to be seen. If Swick is hesitant he’s going be rocked by Thiago’s power punches.
Thiago will look to stand and trade with Swick as long as he feels comfortable. If he gets in trouble he will try to work his ground game and while he has a BJJ advantage getting Swick to the ground is easier said then done.
Of all the fights on the card this is the toughest to call.
March 15, 2010, at 2:33 pm
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Breaking Down IGN's First Look of UFC 2010: Undisputed...
As May 25th draws closer, I’m getting more and more pumped for UFC 2010: Undisputed. After last year’s game was awesome, you can only assume that this year’s is going to be even better. IGN.com did a first look at the game this weekend, and I’ll be bringing you the MMA fans view of some of the news.
Let’s get started.
This is a great thing. The game did have a “rock’em, sock’em robots” feel to it at times because most of animations were stiff. This was especially true in the ground game, as the opponent would stand still during transitions. Besides that, cage work was one of the biggest gripes of players last year. The fact that the fights took place in a cage, but you couldn’t interact with it was a bit ridiculous. Look for things like clinches, flurries against the cage and switching levels for takedowns to be included this year.
All good news once again. Fighters like Rich Franklin will feel more realistic due to the addition of the south paw stance. More of anything is never a bad thing, and more submissions and animations are a really good thing. The same goes for more fighting styles as the original six that were in the game simply weren’t enough. Since they did away with archetypes, I wonder how the new movesets will work. MMA is a sport where everyone knows how to do pretty much everything, just with varying levels of skills and success. Will my boxer not be able to throw muay thai knees? Will a wrestler not be able to use a triangle? Actually, that one kinda makes sense. Still, I’m curious of how that is going to work. Fighter specific animations are cool, but it made Anderson Silva a bitch to play with last year.
YYEEESSSSS. Call me a dork, but I think that the presentation is so important. Thinks like walkout shirts and banners for the fighters makes it feel more like an actual UFC. Besides, I already shot walking out in the Josh Koscheck UFC 106 walkout shirt.
This is meaty stuff. The online “camp” system sounds awesome. Sign-ups for The 3rd String Safety camp will come. Since Jason sucks, we’ll need good fighters. Similar to NBA2K10, the game seems to use a dynamic commentary system which should bring your created character to life, which is a breath of fresh air after last year’s game. They barely even mentioned your character last year.
Typically in the world of video games, the first year a sports game comes out is dedicated to getting the gameplay right. THQ did that just about perfectly. The second year is when they add all the features that they wanted to add in year one but didn’t have time. That seems to be the direction that Undisputed is headed.
UFC 2010: Undisputed comes out on May 25th. Yes, my copy is already pre-ordered.
Categories: MMA
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