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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 Anthony De Franco February 8, 2010, at 8:27 pm I am still amazed by how many people think that strategy is a big part of mixed martial arts. How much money does Greg Jackson have to make before people realize that having a good corner is just important as being well prepared for your fight.
Just ask Mark Coleman. Coleman brought former Randy Couture confidant Shawn Tompkins to the cage with him, and Tompkins gave him some TERRRIBLE advice. Here’s what Josh Gross of SI.com had to say about it:
“Coleman made Couture’s night easy when, at the advice of his trainer Shawn Tompkins and the despite the fact it has never been his path to victory, he chose to stand and trade.”
“…Shortly into the bout, Coleman carried the attitude of a confused athlete, one who was thinking instead of fighting.”
“Between the first and second round, Coleman looked up at Tompkins as the Canadian offered instructions on how to keep distance and how to fire off combination. I’m fairly certain he would have loved if Tompkins told him to run out there and take a shot on a double-leg. If you’re going to go out, go out at what you do best.”
Who besides Tompkins could possibly believe that Coleman had any chance standing and trading with Couture? Over the last few years, Couture has drilled his boxing to the point where it is on par with his wrestling. He has some of the best head movement in the game. As supposed to Coleman, who had no head movement.
What a joke.
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 Jason Comack February 4, 2010, at 9:39 pm Mac Danzig (18-7-1) vs. Justin Buchholz (8-4)
The Fighters: Danzig came into the sixth season of the Ultimate Fighter as a favorite. The King Of The Cage and Pride vet had amassed enough quality wins to justify his presence in the UFC even without TUF. His post TUF career hasn’t gone as planned however. He’s 2-3 in the UFC and has lost three fights in a row. No UFC fighter that isn’t a star isn’t going to survive a four fight losing streak.
Bucholz has also struggled in his UFC career. He’s 1-3 in the UFC with his lone win being over a very green Corey Hill.
Both fighters desperately need a win and this is most definitely a “loser leaves town” match.
Breakdown: Despite his recent failings, 2-5 in his last seven fights, Danzig is a 3 or 4 to 1 favorite depending on where you look. That says a lot more about his opponent then it does him. Bucholz clearly isn’t a guy ready for UFC competition. He brought a 7-1 record into the Octagon but it was clearly inflated by fighting local bums. Look for Danzig to mix it up both standing and on the ground as he cruises to an easy decision win.
Prediction: Danzig Via Unanimous Decision
Melvin Guillard (22-8-2) vs. Ronnys Torres (14-1)
The Fighters: Can you believe Melvin Guillard is still only 26 years old? It certainly seems like he’s been around forever. Most likely it feels this way because Guillards career has been a consistent stream of disappointments. Every time he takes a step forward he seems to take two back the next fight. The former Ultimate Fighter Season 2 contestant began his career at 170 pounds. He went 1-1 at welterweight before dropping down to lightweight. Since dropping to lightweight Guillard is 5-4 in the UFC.
Guillards talent is enormous. He’s a gigantic lightweight whose sheer athleticism and explosiveness will remind you a lot of Kevin Randleman. Guillard has a great shot and terrific power in his hands. However, Guillard has an Achilles Heel. He is a terrible submission fighter. All four of his UFC losses have come via submission. If you remember he was dominating, understatement, Josh Neer before being stupidly caught in a triangle choke. It looked like someone attacked Neers face with a tack hammer (as Guillard stupidly jumped into Neers guard to finish him off he was caught in a triangle.) Most recently he was caught in a guillotine against Nick Diaz that could have easily been avoided. If he fought with any kind of game plan he could have easily won both those fights.
It’s also outside the cage that Melvin has had troubles. After his loss to Joe Stevenson, Guillard accused Stevenson of using HGH. Not so ironically after that fight Guillard was caught with cocaine in his system in a post fight drug test. He was fined $2,100 and suspended 8 months.
The reason Guillard, unlike so many fighters, is getting second and third chances is because he’s insanely talented. He has wins over Marcus Davis, Denis Siver and Gleison Tibau. Those are very quality wins and it’s insanely frustrating to watch Guillard not maximize his god given ability.
While Ronnys Torres is making his UFC debut the talented Brazilian is no push over. Torres is 14-1 and one of Brazils top prospects. He trains with the highly regarded, and highly underrated, Nova União team. The dude trains with Jose Aldo, Paulo Thiago and many other talented fighters.
Breakdown: Sadly for Guillard this fight seems to be designed for him to lose. As I said his Achilles Heel has always been his submission defense and that is the area that Torres excels at (7 of Torres 15 wins have come via submission.) If there’s one area of concern for Torres it’s that he might not be coming into this fight 100%. He had to pull out of Fight Night 18 and 19 with various injuries.
If Guillard wants to win this fight he needs to take a page out of Chuck Liddells book and reverse wrestle. Torres isn’t good enough to take Mevlin down and it’s unclear if he has that same knack for pulling guard effectively like Damien Maia does. Knowing Melvin he’ll stun him with a power shot and go in recklessly for a finish and get submitted.
Prediction: Torres via Armbar Round 2
*Bonus* Random Fun Fact: Torres holds a win over Luiz Azeredo. Azeredo is one of only 4 men to ever beat Anderson Silva. Azeredo also holds a win over top welterweight contender Paul Daley.
By Anthony De Franco January 31, 2010, at 5:00 pm There are a lot of people out there who are hoping that Anderson Silva moves up to light heavyweight. People want the middleweight division to be wide open once again. They want to see championship fights that aren’t decided before the fighters step into the cage.
Here’s a realization: That might not happen even if Silva does leave. Nate Marquardt could be the next dominant UFC champ.
Let’s introduce you to the man before I get into my reasoning. Nate is one of the most accomplished fighters in the middleweight division. Before coming over to the UFC, he was a three-time King of Pancrase. Since coming over, he is 8-2. He fought Silva after going 4-0 in his first four fights, meaning that he is 4-1 after his championship loss. In that one loss to Thales Leites, he was docked a point for kneeing a downed opponent in the head, and another for strikes to the back of the head. Before you think it was a dirty fight, remember that this is the same guy who chose not to strike a knocked out Demian Maia.
Marquardt’s game is a mix of many different disciplines. What really makes him special is his stand-up skill. He is a phenomenal kickboxer, as shown in his highlight reel 10-hit combo against Wilson Gouveia.
He is so technical and has such great power that he is at an advantage on his feet against anyone in the division…except for Silva.
His ground game is nothing to be messed around with either. He has 15 submission victories to his record as well. He has both wrestling and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu training, and uses both of them extremely well.
Last but not least, there is his camp, which only one of the best in the world. Training at Greg Jackson’s Submission Fighting in Albuquerque, New Mexico brings the best out in any fighter. When you someone as great as Marquardt, it makes them truly spectacular.
No, Marquardt is not blessed with the same kind of physical gifts that Silva is. However, in the incredibly thin UFC middleweight division, there may not be anything standing between Nate and complete dominance. Look around the division: Who could really beat Nate? He’s fighting Chael Sonnen at UFC 109, and while Chael is a pest, a guy who makes anyone work for a victory, he is not going to beat Marquardt.
Further down the line, he could see Michael Bisping. The Count would want to stand with Nate, and thus be in line for another Dan Henderson-type KO. He could see Alan Belcher, who recently declared himself the greatest fighter of all time. Marquardt would end that thought quickly. Patrick Cote? Tom Lawlor? Aaron Simpson? Nope. Not close. Yushin Okami? Maybe a bit of a matchup problem, but I think it would be hard for him to get Marquardt down. Could Wanderlei Silva beat him? Maybe. It would be interesting to see the two stand and bang, but unless The Axe Murderer can turn back the clock to 2004, I don’t see him winning.
So, we are left with Nate as the unquestioned best fighter in the division. Of course, this is all contingent on Anderson Silva leaving the division.
If he does, Welcome to the Marquardt-era. That was me doing my best Joe Rogan.
By Anthony De Franco January 22, 2010, at 10:22 pm There’s been a lot written about Nick Diaz over the last few months. Unfortunately, not a lot of it has been very good.
Since August, when Diaz pulled out of a fight due to refusing to take a drug test he knew he would fail, he’s become kind of a joke in the MMA world. People have focused mainly on him as a marijuana user rather than a elite level mixed martial artist.
Diaz has an opportunity to make everyone forget that on January 30th when he takes on Marius Zaromskis for the vacant Strikeforce welterweight title. He has a chance to remind everyone that he is one of the best fighters in the world at 170, or he could simply be known as the guy who has to fight in Florida, because they don’t care that he smokes pot.
Crossroads: Thy name is Diaz.
Let’s look at the positives. Diaz is a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-jitsu under Cesar Gracie. I don’t care who you are or what’ve you done, if you have a black belt from anyone named Gracie, you are kind of a big deal. However, we all know that every fight starts standing and Demian Maia can tell you what happens if you can’t achieve a takedown quickly as a BJJ specialist.
What makes Diaz special is his ability to box. Well, it’s not that he is the most technical boxer in the world, it’s that he has naturally heavy hands. While the equation for power in MMA is not exactly science, Diaz natural talent seems to make up for the fact that he is a bit sloppy on the feet. Add that to a long reach that allows him to keep opponents at bay with a jab and his standup game is more than just good enough to get him to the ground, it’s good enough for 11 T/KO victories.
The problem with Diaz has never been his skill level or his physical traits. The problem is in his head. The problem is that he has long had this attitude where he beleives that it’s him (and in some cases his brother) against the world. It’s been his tendency to fail drug tests. It been things like fighting Joe Riggs in the hospital after his fight. It’s making anti-UFC and getting himself unceremoniously banned from the biggest, richest MMA company in the world.
If Diaz could only get out of his own way, he could be great. On January 30th, he’ll face “The Whitemare”, but he’ll also be facing himself. If he shows up in shape, and at the top of his game, we could see Nick Diaz as the first dominant Strikeforce champ.
If he doesn’t, then we could be seeing the beginning of the end of his relevancy.
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