IGN on EA MMA @ GDC 2010

"Sandwiched in between the comparatively tame 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa and Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 kiosks sat EA Sports MMA at the company's Season Opener event in San Francisco last night. The physical setup alone made it clear that EA Sports' first venture into mixed martial arts is a serious departure for the company that has traditionally stuck to core, slightly more mainstream sports. While I wasn't allowed to play EA Sports MMA (now for the second time), developers were on-hand to give a guided demo and shine a bit more light on the finer points of the game, including the first details behind the control scheme.

The first thing that really impressed me after being disappointed by a lack of emotion and pageantry in THQ's UFC title from last year was that EA Sports MMA is including authentic ring entrances for its list of fighters. They come complete with pyrotechnics, music and plenty of attitude depending on which fighter you're using. Jimmy Lennon provides charisma to the stadium announcements and Big John McCarthy stands waiting in the ring as your fighter pumps up the crowd. I wish that the volume had been turned up on the TV at the crowded downtown San Francisco venue as seeing the fighters walk to the ring in front of a muted audience was a little strange.

As Cung Le and Nick Diaz (the two fighters used throughout the event) made their way into the ring the developers from Tiburon introduced me to two new mechanics. The first was Total Strike Control. As you might have guessed, EA Sports MMA is going to use a similar punching and kicking mechanic to what was seen in Fight Night, but with a left bumper modifier to execute kicks. In other words, to throw a right hook, you move the right stick to three o'clock, then up to twelve o'clock. Jabs are simple upward movements to the left or right and, as I said, the left bumper converts these movements into kicks. Randy Chase, executive producer on the title, emphasized that the movements could also be used for striking on the ground, but exact mechanics for the ground game would have to wait until a later date.

He did say that users would be able to fight in a hexagon cage, a circle cage and in traditional rings and would be able to do so using three different rule sets. Oh, and in case you're wondering, southpaw fighters are most certainly a part of EA Sports MMA. You'll notice other details like damage specific to different arms and legs and blood that transfers from your fighter to both the mat and your opponent's clothes and skin.

The next mechanic to be revealed was called Feel The Fight and was as close to details on the ground game as EA Sports was willing to part with. It had to do with the counter system when struggling between different holds. Essentially Feel The Fight uses the rumble mechanic in your controller to tell you when it's time to pull off a counter. It could rumble for a full second or a quarter of a second depending on your stamina and fatigue. This feature, likely more than any other, was tough to form an opinion on without actually having the controller in my hands. Here's hoping I get to try it for myself sooner rather than later.

The fight ended with one player taking a shot to the face and falling to the mat. At that point, the attacker rabidly flicked up on the right stick as their character stood over the downed opponent, raining blows onto their head. The defender was forced to mash the B button (square on PS3) to try and cover their face and regenerate health in order to stand up. Big John was quick to put a stop to it, which also put an end to my time with the game.

The demo for EA Sports MMA was short and limited, and didn't bother touching on anything beyond a few punches and kicks between Le and Diaz. No career mode, no multiplayer and no true ground game specifics were mentioned. EA is sticking to finer details for now. Like the fact that there are about 20 different fighting styles going into the game and the different ring types I mentioned before. We'll have to wait and see what the career mode holds, though the one tidbit I was able to garner was that they're focusing on the international nature of MMA. Leave your best guesses at what that means in the comments."

HT: Nate Ahearn @ IGN

The GSP UFC 111 Walkout Tee.

Beef Volume 5 - Honor Among Champs (Shinya Aoki vs Mizuto Hirota) (By Genghis Con)

MLG To Hold Tournaments in EA Sports Titles in 2010

"Tournaments sanctioned by Major League Gaming will be a multiplayer feature of certain upcoming EA Sports titles, under a deal announced today by the two parties that proposes to establish "the definitive ranking system for sports gamers in North America."

The pact deepens the ties between MLG and EA established last year with a live tournament series called the EA Sports Challenge Series. Under thsi new development, EA Sports titles will include new multiplayer lobbies specifically for MLG-sanctioned and refereed tournaments. Players victories, defeats and other stats will then be tracked and compiled in a profile, "enabling the definitive ranking system for sports gamers in North America," according to a joint announcement.

No specific titles were mentioned, just that the online tournaments would begin in 2010. The remainder of the announcement touted the marketing potential of the partnership."

HT: Kotaku

UFC Undisputed 2010 Gamestop Pre-Order Exclusive Fighters

First Gamestop Pre-Order exclusive is James McSweeney
Second Gamestop Pre-Order exclusive is Marcus "Big Baby" Jones
Third will be revealed on March 9th.
Fourth will be revealed on March 16th.

First Fight Announced! Denis Kang Joins Astra!

J-Rock announced that the newly crowned DEEP Welterweight Champion, Yuya Shirai (18-8-0) will face the former Carge Rage Welterweight Champion, Che Mills (8-3-0).

Also announced was the participation of the PRIDE FC 2006 Welterweight GP runner-up Denis Kang (32-12-1). Kokuho has said that a fight between Kang and Kazuhiro Nakamura (13-10-0) is a possibilty.

This event will be shown on PPV in Japan.

DREAM vs. Strikeforce!?

"Talking with the press after todays announcement, DREAM EP Sasahara said that there will be 3-4 additional fights to complete the DREAM.13 card. Two of the fights will be in heavier weight classes and two will be DREAM vs. Strikeforce fights. These fights and the possible arrival of an important Heavyweight from Strikeforce are planned to be announced next week.

This DREAM X Strikeforce thing will become something regular starting from the Light Heavyweight GP 1st Round event in May. Since DREAM don’t have that many fighters in the heavier weight classes, some will come from Strikeforce.

Sasahara also talked about ASTRA and said that they might do some kind of cooperation for J-Rock’s event. He feels that when someone like Yoshida (he called Yoshida the treasure of Japanese MMA) retires, the whole MMA community of Japan has to give a hand."

HT: Nightmare of Battle

DEEP Announces the Fight Order for DEEP 46 Impact!

Main Event:
FW: Takafumi Otsuka (9-4-1) vs. Takeshi Yamazaki (14-10-3)
MW: Riki Fukuda (15-4-0) vs Hiromitsu Kanehara (18-22-2)

DEEP Lightheavyweight Tournament Opening Round:
Ryuta Noji (8-5-0) vs. Katsuhisa Fujii (9-17-1)
Minoru Kato (2-8-3) vs. Shunsuke Inoue (7-4-2)
Christian "Tonton" M’Pumbu (14-2-1) vs. Yuji Sakuragi (11-15-1)
Edison Salman Mishio (2-1-0) vs. Yoshiyuki Nakanishi (5-1-0)

Non-Tournament Fights:
FW: Yoshihiro Tomioka (14-7-6) vs. Toshiaki Kitada (10-4-3)
WW: Hidehiko Hasegawa (18-12-6) vs. Taisuke Okuno (8-4-2)
WW: Eiji Ishikawa (18-15-2) vs. Shigetoshi Iwase (8-12-3)
BW: Hiroshi "Iron" Nakamura (9-3-5) vs. Isao Terada (7-9-4)
BW: Takashige "Crazy Hill" Hirukawa (2-1-0) vs. Yoshiki Harada (2-0-0)
WW: Yasushi Kitazaki (10-6-1) vs. Yuta Aoyama (10-1-1)

Future Fight:
63kg: Hiroyuki Kobayashi (1-3-0) vs. Takahiro Masuda (1-2-0)

Two Fights Announced for SRC.12!!

Two fights were added to SRC12 today. As rumored, Tomonari Kanomata will step in to face Marlon Sandro in a Featherweight fight and Nick Denis will replace Wilson Reis to take on Yuji Hoshino in another Featherweight fight.

Kanomata held an open training session today as the fight was announced. Talking with the press, the teammate of SRC Featherweight champion Masanori Kanehara said that Sandro is almost the strongest, that he’s like a beast, and that himself nor anyone he’s asked can find any holes in Sandro’s game.

Sandro is the Featherweight King Of Pancrase and Kanomata is currently the number 1 ranked Featherweight of Pancrase. Since the fight is in SRC it will not be for the title but Kanomata says that he would like to request a Pancrase title fight if he defeats Sandro.

When the topic of Kanomata winning and facing Kanehara for the title came up, Kanomata said that that’s impossible. He wants Kanehara to hold the SRC belt, himself to hold the Pancrase belt, and "Gozo" to hold the Shooto belt this year. If people want to see him and Kanehara fight, they can visit Paraestra Hachioji.

Kanehara said that he received an offer to defend his title against Sandro about a month ago but declined due to injury. He also said that from March 7th and onward, Kanomata will be his rival, and that a fight between fellow students is no problem at all. He has concealed one of his special moves. Hearing this, Kanomata said that if there are no problems it’s fine. He himself has also a hidden technique concealed.

HT: Nightmare of Battle

UFC Undisputed 2010 Gamestop Pre-Order Exclusive Fighters

First Gamestop Pre-Order exclusive is James McSweeney
Second will be revealed on March 2nd.
Third will be revealed on March 9th.
Fourth will be revealed on March 16th.

This Fan Shot was promoted to the front page by Nick Thomas.

The real Super HULK belt!:

Minowaman was today awarded the official super hulk belt and prize money for his tournament victory. At the ceremony the DREAM.13 participation of Minowaman was also announced and they even managed to get ahold of the elementary school girl fan from Saitama who made him the super hluk belt. The belt was designed by one of the Kinnikuman manga authors Takashi Shimada.

HT: nightmareofbattle.com

This Fan Shot was promoted to the front page by Nick Thomas.

Antonio Rodrigo "Minotauro" Nogueira's Walkout Tee For UFC 110!

UFC 111: St. Pierre vs. Hardy Sweepstakes

Shinya Aoki on UFC 109

"AOKI Shinya talk about UFC109....I will trenslate this column
I willpick up some UFC109 fights and tell you my opinion!!
1st,I will say about Nate vs Sonnen....
Sonnen is 33years old,24-10-1 record,This record is not special,but it is made by very tough fights.Nate is known as Pancrase fighter,and Knocked Demian Mia out.
Game is decided by Sonnen7s wrestling and pound,When Opponent do guard position,He make him lay again,and his elbow and pound began from it,this is severe,lock opponent,elbow!! this "LOCK AND ELBOW"is good,I learns from him this technic is difficult to notice,but I love it.

Sonnen controled Nate's leg joint(Ko-kansetsu),before he do pound,this is important point...Sonen become grinder, pound and pound,.,..and half position,back!!His back control skill is master class.And He trikes Twister in 2nd round,it is cool!!
this fight was Sonnen's oneside game.

I heard John Fitch said "The closed guard is dead in MMA（FightersOnly）" oh,yes,Yes,i agree!absolutely Yes!!
long time Closed guard means present my lose by Decision to opponent.If I am closed position,I have to recover quickly.
pressure of sweep & submission.....but it is prolog of stand.how can I stand again from guard? it is united technic of submission,sweep,and stand.....We need groud technic to stand again.Do you know it?..........Sorry I can not explain it perfectly,,,it....I want to say"MMA IS MMA."MMA is not "striking + Ground"...so ,it is called as MMA!!"

HT: Gryphon's Blog

UFC Undisputed Sold 3.5 Million

Before UFC 2009 Undisputed came out, publisher THQ was in trouble. Now that it's out, THQ is doing just fine. That'll happen when a single game sells millions.

THQ announced this morning that across the 360 and PS3 the game has sold 3.5 million copies, and to celebrate will now be appearing on both console's budget lines, dropping its price to $29.99.

HT: Kotaku

Fedor Emelianenko on the cover of Russian Men's Health

This Fan Shot was promoted to the front page by Nick Thomas.
Strikeforce on CBS In April coverage

Marius Zaromskis vs. Kiyoshi Tamura at DREAM.13

"Marius Zaromskis (13-3) is set to face Nick Diaz for the vacant Strikeforce welterweight title on Saturday night, but regardless of what happens at Strikeforce: Miami, it appears as though "The Whitemare" will head back to Japan for his next fight to defend his DREAM 170-pound title against Kiyoshi Tamura (32-13-3) at DREAM.13 on March 22.

MMA Fighting learned on Friday that the Japanese-based promotion is close to signing the bout. Of course, should Zaromskis get seriously injured against Diaz, there is a chance the fight might not happen.

Zaromskis really made a name for himself during last year's DREAM Welterweight Grand Prix, when he won his last two fights via head kick. He also defeated Myeon Ho Bae via 19-second knockout head kick in October.

Tamura hasn't fought since defeating Kazushi Sakuraba at the Dynamite!! 2008 show. The 40-year-old, who isn't accustomed to fighting at welterweight, has been competing in MMA since 1995 and holds victories over Patrick Smith, Maurice Smith, Renzo Gracie and Masakatsu Funaki.

DREAM recently announced that their 13th event will take place at the Yokohama Arena in Yokohama, Japan, and it will air live on HDNet in North America. Bibiano Fernandes will also defend his 145-pound belt against Joachim Hansen on the card."

HT: MMA Fighting

15 Minutes of Fame: Pulverizing the World of Warcraft

Main character: Lilevil
Alts: Crocop and Corallee
Server: Burning Legion
Playstayle: Endgame raider

15 Minutes of Fame: Jens, we hear nothing about you that doesn't include some mention of your love of WoW. Are you still playing as much as ever?

Jens Pulver: Not as much. For all the naysayers out there on the fighting aspect who say I play too much WoW and that might be the reason for my sudden downturn in the fighting world: Not true, not true. I'd been playing WoW a lot longer when I had my gigantic upturn, too. Everyone who's trying to say it's WoW -- that's not it.

There was a time back in the day when I grinded (to get) Grand Marshal the hard way. I didn't have anybody's help ... I don't really know what it became, but it was more of an obsession, because (once) I started, I'm like "Oh wait -- I'm not bailing on it now, no way!" It's just one of those things. And then a year later, they're just giving away the Grand Marshal dirks and stuff and I'm like, "Wow, what a slap!" But at least I did it. I don't care.

15M: When do you find the time to play?

JP: I just don't watch television. If I have time to sit down and watch TV, I'm flipping on the PC, and I'm gonna play my WoW or I'll do some FPS. I'll change it up, but I'd rather play a video game. I've always been into video games. If I have free time, I'm not gonna watch TV; I'm gonna play games.

15M: So is Lilevil still your main character?

JP: I keep the rogue hidden, only because he gets a lot of mail, and some of it's not very nice.

I've got a mage. He rocks. But you know what I tried? I hope I don't disgust too many people out there, because I was a Horde slayer for a long time -- but now I am Horde. I dig it. I like it. I like being a Troll. That's just fitting. I got a Troll mage, I got an Undead priest.

But what I've really been getting into is the death knight -- but not because everybody has a death knight, yeahyeah ... I waited a long time. A.), Because it started out at level 55 so I didn't have to go all the way from level 1, and B.), I just wanted to tank. I was all fired up to have a tank, you know, and I'm enjoying tanking now. I've never done that.

15M: What about your main? Because your mage is in a guild that does endgame raiding, right?

JP: My guild knows who I am (in the real world). Right now, especially, I have to miss a lot of raids and stuff only because my practice is at the same time. I don't get to raid anymore until probably March. (If they would raid on Friday/Saturday/Sunday then I could, because then I don't train in the afternoons; it's just all morning training.)

15M: How do the fans react when you log in on the characters you've made publicly known?

JP: When my rogue comes out, a lot of people know who that is. I created . But here's the bad part: When they message me, I feel the need to write everybody back. It's kinda like how I am in the fight world. If you ask me for an autograph, I'll stand there for six hours until the last person asks. I can't help it. So I'm in the middle of a raid, and somebody'll be talking to me about fighting – and it's always about fighting ...

(When) I started , I never really wanted to push too much. It's just weird, especially in World of Warcraft. I remember five years ago, I'd tell people yeah, I do this (fighting as a career). I mean, I actually had that name, Lilevil, and I was the world champion and was fighting in the UFC. Nobody had a clue. Not a CLUE. Now you can hear them talking about it in Trade chat and General chat and talking about the fights that are happening. (laughs) We're all growing up a little bit.

15M: What have you been doing in game lately?

JP: Obviously, my frost badges are sick. When Fester and Rotgot come out and the Professor, the new wing of ICC ... of course, training ... I haven't been able to play them because I can't raid with anybody at night. I don't really know if I want to PUG. I mean, you get some pretty bad experiences with PUGs.

I'd like to get a couple of Tier 10 pieces, only because the set bonus for an Arcane mage is pretty sick. So that's my big thing. But I'm picky, and I'll wait. I've got 151 badges, but I'm not going to buy one piece of armor until I got enough for two. I'm going straight for the set, or I'm not getting it.

15M: You've been a gamer for years and years. What sucked you in, and why do you think you've stuck with WoW all these years?

JP: Growing up, I've always had the Baldur's Gate, I've always had the Night Elves, Neverwinter Nights, just the whole Dungeons and Dragons realms and series behind them. I was an Elfquest fan when I was a kid, (back in) fourth grade, junior high. I've always loved elves. That's just always been my thing.

And then when they built a game like this ... They did a great job, in the aspect of they bring you back. It's like, "Man, I want that!" They always change the content when it's time. I've had a lot of friends on there that I talk to on Ventrilo. I may have never met them, or I might know them as a druid -- but you know what I'm saying? I still talk to them. It's just better than going out all the time. It keeps me at home. It's an inexpensive way to stay entertained. I've definitely made my money's worth playing it.

Sometimes it's tough, man. I'm not gonna lie. There are some raids, I'd like to reach through the screen and just PvP somebody, just BAM. But for the most part, I like the raiding. I like the new content. I like the way each class has its purpose, where you can't just run in and tank-and-spank everything under the sun. They've always done a great job, and nobody can match it.

15M: How's gaming fitting in with family life? What does your wife think?

JP: Oh, they love it! I do it during training camps and things like that because I can't go anywhere and I'm pinned down to eating. I get to eat, sleep, I train and then ... phht ... you know what I mean? But summertime, when we're out, then it's family. And I play. And they always know; they call me, and I'm right there.

What people don't understand (about when I'm training) is, I don't drink. I don't go out. I don't socialize. Especially when I'm training, and that's three months I gotta be dedicated. I don't get to pig out, eat what I want, I don't get to do anything in that aspect. Gaming is a good time for me, to just do my thing. I need a good laptop I can take on the road with me.

15M: We know you're on a light WoW schedule right now because you're focused on training. What's the next step in the ring for you right now?

JP: I'm going to fight March 6th. There's been talk about retirement, and this and that ... The reality is, I'm going to be fighting March 6 in Ohio.

I just opened up my gym. One of the things we're starting to work on is streaming live. Actually, if anybody ever wants to catch it, they can go to the live stream. I'm going to be working on flipping on the cameras all the time, and people can watch me train and stuff. The address is www.livestream.com/jenspulverlive. We need to start putting up a calendar to let people know when we're doing it.

15M: We'll check it out. Thanks Jen, and we'll be rooting for you come March!

HT: WOW.com

Yuki Nakai Apologizes! Aoki Dismissed As Instructor

"On the Paraestra Tokyo (the gym which Aoki belongs to) website a written message by higher-ups Yuki Nakai and Taro Wakabayashi relating to Aoki’s actions after his fight with Mizuto Hirota on NYE was posted today.

As the leaders of Aoki they apologize to everyone involved and as punishment Aoki has been dismissed from his role as an instructor at Paraestra Tokyo. He will also accept any punishment from the organizations involved.

There’s also a message from Aoki which says that he apologizes from the bottom of his heart for his unsportsmanlike behavior after the fight. He will start over from scratch (don’t understand what he means) so that something like this doesn’t happen again."

HT: Nightmare of Battle

K-1 Dynamite!! 2009! Fights

FieLDS Dynamite!! 2009! Press Conference

Yosuke Nishijima vs. Ray Sefo - K-1 Dynamite!! 2009

This Fan Shot was promoted to the front page by Nick Thomas.
FieLDS Dynamite!! 2009 coverage

Kazushi Sakuraba held a commemoration press conference today for the publication of his new book called "Creative powers".

At the press conference he also talked about Dynamite!!, starting off with his now usual "I don’t want to fight"-talk. He is currently negotiating with the promoters but he says that he doesn’t want to fight, it’s cold so he can’t warm up, he wants to take NYE off because he recently had two fights in one month, etc.

He doesn’t have the image of the DREAM vs. SRC fights as war but as a cultural meeting of some sort. About an opponent he says that anyone is fine, though he wants to increase his weight and fight Fujita.

He had the chance to train with him in the past. After experiencing his power in training he wants to experience "that power" in a fight as well. If Fujita hits him in the fight, he wants to tell him: "I’m your senior by one year, yet you hit me?".

A Sakuraba vs. Fujita fight would be bigger than Sakuraba vs. Misaki I think, with their professional and amateur wrestling backgrounds. The Sakuraba-Misaki-Akiyama link is also something though.

Sakuraba Currently In Dynamite!! Negotiations! Wants Fujita Fight

Dynamite!! 2009 Poster Revealed!

Fedor Emelianenko in Korean TV commercial: Snickers

This Fan Shot was promoted to the front page by Nick Thomas.
Strikeforce: Emelianenko vs. Rogers coverage