Xbox Live Gold Member Can Now Enter the Octagon for Free in UFC 2

EA Sports UFC 2 is free for Xbox Live Gold members. Gamers can play at no cost between August 15 and August 21. The 2016 release had mixed reviews with EA Sports’ third attempt at an MMA game and their second attempt at a UFC game. EA has announced that UFC 3 will not be released until the first three months of 2018. The Xbox freebie will have to hold over fight fans for quite some time.

The genesis of the cover for EA Sports UFC is a rather interesting story. It featured the sport’s two biggest stars the day it was announced with Ronda Rousey the guaranteed cover star for the game. The announcement came a couple of days before her November 15, 2015, title bout against Holly Holm.  The world was shocked when Holm knocked Rousey out with a head kick 59 seconds into the second round. This obviously brought out talk of the dreaded EA curse where cover athletes often fall on hard times after appearing on the cover of EA Sports titles. Rousey then lost to Amanda Nunes in her return to the octagon December 30, 2016, which, to many, marked the end of her storied career.

Conor McGregor, on the other hand, fought his way onto the cover.  EA announced that the winner of his title fight against Jose Aldo would appear on the cover. McGregor won that fight by knock out in thirteen seconds awarding him both the Featherweight Championship and the game’s cover. McGregor’s career has obviously not been hobbled by any EA curse as he is slated to fight undefeated boxer Floyd Mayweather in the biggest fight in combat sports history on August 28, 2017. This wasn’t necessarily obvious at the time as McGregor did lose to Nate Diaz 10 days before EA Sports UFC 2 was released.  He has since avenged that loss and won the UFC light weight championship title.