All sports games have the responsibility of representing real-life athletes accurately in their title. Sometimes this can be easy and the games just coronate a superstar such as Wayne Gretzky or Michael Jordan with all 99s. More often a series of experts is tasked with breaking down real athlete’s strength and weaknesses each to a number. Sometimes they get it right, sometimes they don’t. EA Sports UFC 3 has released fighter attributes for two weight classes so far for the game. Fighters are ranked on a scale of 1 – 99 on striking, grappling, stamina and health. So far the men’s Flyweight and Bantamweight roster attributes have been revealed.
The fighters included are a who’s who of each division with UFC Flyweight Champion Demetrious Johnson appearing on both lists. Some of the fighter rosters are not the most current with the former perennial contender in the UFC Urijah Faber appearing even though he officially retired in 2016. Of course, there is sure to be plenty of debate on the attributes given to each fighter in the game. Should heavy-handed John Lineker only be an 89 in striking? Should that ball of energy, John Dobson, only be an 88 in stamina? It could all be debated at length but the good news is that EA Sports UFC 3 is revealing their analytics so that there is no mystery how the fighters are expected to act in the game.
EA Sports UFC 3 has promised that they will continue to reveal the fighter attributes for all of their weight classes. This will also include the women’s Strawweight and Bantamweight divisions. As the women’s division has only recently created Flyweight and Featherweight divisions, there is no word on whether these will also appear in the game. That might mean the jury is out on Champions Chris Cyborg and Montano Nicco appearing in the title. EA Sports UFC 3 releases February 2, 2018, on Xbox One and PS4.