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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 Jason Comack February 5, 2010, at 7:16 pm -Randy Couture (17-10) vs. Mark Coleman (16-9)
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.
Prediction: Thiago Via Unanimous Decision
By Anthony De Franco January 27, 2010, at 3:06 pm The Natural Born Killer will be back in the cage taking one of the hottest prospects in MMA. From MMA Mania:
Former WEC welterweight champion, Carlos Condit (24-5), is in talks to take on King of the Cage star Rory MacDonald (10-0), at UFC 115 from the General Motors Place in Vancouver, B.C., Canada, on June 15.
MMAmania.com learned of the pending match up earlier today.
Condit was one of the prized holdovers from the WEC takeover. He is 24-5 overall, with a 1-1 record in the UFC. His last fight was a decision victory over Jake Ellenberger. He possess great length and a good all-around game, but the question is how ready is he for the next level of competition in the UFC?
MacDonald is the MMA equivalent of the hot girl at the end of the bar that everyone is drooling over right now. Before joining the UFC, MacDonald was 9-0 at age 20, but hadn’t really fought anyone of note. Then, he comes into the UFC and wins easily against Mike “Joker” Guymon and proves that the hype is worthy.
As for the fight, I’m not sure it makes a whole lot of sense. It will certainly show us where MacDonald stands, but will beating Condit really elevate his status? For Condit, I could see using the fight as a “heat check” if he had won a couple in a row, but as it stands, I’m not sure how much I get the logic.
Give me Condit via decision over the young guy.
By Anthony De Franco January 26, 2010, at 8:50 pm Another awesome fight for the fans of Montreal. From MMA Junkie:
The fight was first reported Tuesday by Tatame.com and subsequently confirmed to MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) by sources close to the situation.
Verbal agreements are in place, and contracts are expected to be finalized shortly.
Here’s something interesting: Arguably the most popular fighter in the UFC, Forrest Griffin will fight in Canada. Does anyone else think that Forrest is a bit of a “middle America” figure? He’s an unabashed redneck who’s rise to the title was something out of a Rocky movie, with Rampage Jackson starring as Apollo Creed. However, he will go out in front of a bunch of GSP fans in May. Curious of the reaction he gets.
As for the actual fight, I hate to say this about someone who was so important to the rebirth of the UFC, but I wonder how much Forrest has left. He’s not that old, but he has taken a BEATING throughout his career. You can’t tell me that doesn’t affect you. Meanwhile, Nogueira is coming off a destruction of Luiz Cane in his UFC debut, but he did have to pull out of his last fight with injury.
I’ll take Lil Nog by unanimous decision. He’s just better than Forrest in every phase.
By Anthony De Franco January 25, 2010, at 5:58 am Is it ever a good idea to make fun of a guy who is generally referred to as a “ninja?”
Probably not. Nonetheless, that is exactly what middleweight contender Chael Sonnen is doing. Here is what he had to say about Silva and Brazillian manager of the stars, Ed Soares. From Bloody Elbow:
“You want me to let you in on a secret, Anderson Silva speaks perfect English. He just has such a low amount of respect for you and all the rest of the media that he pretends he doesn’t. I’ve had conversations with Anderson Silva in perfect English, and on top of that he’s so boring to listen to that he and his rocket scientist manager, Ed Soares, who is also about as exciting as watching grass grow, have decided that Ed is better on the mic than Anderson, so just let Ed do the talking.”
“It’s quite ironic that all the media comes on and talks about how great this guy is for reasons that are completely un-understandable to me. How great Anderson Silva is, and all of us fighters are in the back going, ‘jeez, they’re out there massaging his ego, Anderson hates them so much, he pretends he can’t understand them,’” Sonnen stated.
“That guy’s no more the top fighter out there than Bigfoot is roaming the woods,” said Sonnen. “That is an absolute myth, and all these guys can buy into it, but there’s a young man out in Portland, Ore., that is not signing up on that bandwagon.
How concise. Sonnen is making a lot of claims, and I wouldn’t doubt if some of them are true on a small level. However, to claim that Soares and Silva have created an elaborate ruse just to keep Anderson from talking to media seems a bit insane. Also, Soares might not be the world’s most interesting man, but is his probably one of the most powerful in the whole MMA world. He controls a whole stable of superstars that includes Silva, Big Nog, Jose Aldo and others. I’d be boring if I could be rich and powerful.
Here is what Soares said in response:
“I think Chael’s a really super nice guy and every time I’ve met the guy he’s always been really cool to me. That’s weird that he would say stuff on the radio, but I think at the end of the day, Chael’s not a dumb guy, he’s a pretty smart guy,” Soares commented. “I think no one will really pay attention to what he has to say unless he probably talks about Anderson.”
“Anyone that has a mouth can say what they want,” he said. “I don’t think people pay too much attention to what Chael does. Saying that Anderson’s boring or Anderson’s this, Anderson’s that, we don’t even need to go back and see what Chael has done. If you really want to analyze Chael’s career over the past couple years, he’s had some wins, but he said he didn’t tap against Paulo Filho. If the ref wouldn’t have stopped the fight, Paulo Filho would have his arm in Brazil with him.
What Sonnen is trying to do here is clearly build a little heat between himself and Silva in order to get himself a title shot. He probably knows that The Spider is not long for the middleweight division and a chance at beating Silva is Sonnen’s shot at leaving behind a huge legacy. He also would make some nice bank in the process.
By Jason Comack January 21, 2010, at 3:55 pm When the UFC signs an international star I get giddy.
Whenever the UFC signs an international star my friends that are casual MMA fans ask “who is this guy and why should I care?” Usually if you give me 15 minutes acces to Daily Motion and Youtube I can make a pretty convincing case for just about anyone.
Ramapage Jackson? Show the Arona slam. The dominant performance over Liddell (in Pride.) And just about any interview he’s ever done. Like the one where he talks about what he’s going to do when he wins the Pride belt. “When I shit I’m gonna shit with the Pride belt.” Or what about when he said to El Guapo that his strategy was to “whoop that ass.”.
Vitor Belfort? The Phenom. The 8 second KO over Wanderlei. The unfortunate kidnapping of his sister. The highlight reel of KO’s. Easy. Anderson Silva? The entrance to the ring as Michael Jackson. Any of his highlight reel KO’s.
Gomi? Thinking…still thinking. I can’t think of one single achievement in Gomis career that really stands out. He had an epic winning streak but fought his fare share of cans along the way. Does he really have any singular stand out moments?
This was made obvious when they showed Gomi at UFC 108 and the crowd reacted with indifference. Who’s this guy? Oh he’s an old pride lightweight champ. Is he any good? Yea, but he might be past his prime, he’s lost 2 of his last 4 fights. Does he have a shot of beating Penn? No, actually they already fought once and Penn beat him convincingly.
To me this is why the Gomi signing makes no sense. Because the above conversation is the way any MMA fan would describe Gomi to someone who didn’t know who he was.
Why Gomi, why now? Did Dana White get his Japanese lightweights confused? Did he mean to sign Shinya Aoki?
The loigcal answer is simply Gomi is the one that got away. When the UFC and Pride merged Fedor and Gomi were the two fighters that Dana White coveted that he couldn’t get. Now he has a chance to get Gomi and he got him.
The more abstract answer is that the UFC is planning on holding a card in Japan soon. I’m not claiming I have any inside info, I’m just connecting the dots.
Between the Pride stars of old, Machida, Gomi and Sexy-ama the UFC has more then enough talent to appease the Japanese crowd.
Think the Japanese crowd wouldn’t eat up Lesnar vs. ‘Nog? What about Akiyama vs. Anderson or Wanderlei Silva? Machida vs. Jackson? Gomi vs. anyone really? Hell, you can even dig up Mirko Cro-Cops corpse and hope he head kicks someone.
The UFC is dead set on perusing the international market. That much is obvious. First Abu-Dhabi then the world. It only seems logical the UFC would put a card in Japan.
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