Yesterday, EA Sports confirmed the first three fighters for its upcoming mixed martial arts videogame, tentatively titled EA Sports MMA. Headlining the game’s roster will be current WAMMA heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko, the Russian big man who’s considered one of the best fighters in the sport. Joining him will be Gegard Mousasi (Dream) and Renato Sobral (StrikeForce).
Signing Emelianenko would seem to be a major coup for EA, since recent rumors had him pegged to announce a deal with the UFC on Friday, and because he’s a major name in MMA. But since he’s never fought in the UFC, Emelianenko would presumably fall outside of UFC president Dana White’s policy to blacklist any UFC fighter who signs with EA Sports.
GameSpot’s Brian Ekberg pondered the question of Emelianenko’s videogame future, so I pose the same query to you, Destructoid readers: were Emelianenko’s UFC signing rumors boundless, or will the champ appear in both EA Sports MMA and THQ’s next UFC Undisputed game?
For more on EA Sports MMA, hit up the game’s official Web site and Twitter account.
Fedor Emelianenko Headlines EA SPORTS MMA Roster
World’s Top Ranked MMA Fighter Joined by Gegard Mousasi and Renato Sobral as First Fighters Announced for All-New Product
Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:ERTS), announced today that Fedor Emelianenko, the world’s top-ranked* MMA heavyweight, will headline the EA SPORTS™ MMA fighter roster. Emelianenko will be joined by Gegard Mousasi and Renato Sobral, both of whom will be featured in a title bout at the STRIKEFORCE fight on August 15, as the first of a long list of fighters who will appear in EA SPORTS MMA, the all-new mixed martial arts title coming in 2010.
“I have fought all over the world and I am excited to be in EA SPORTS MMA because this game is going to show the global appeal of mixed martial arts,” said Emelianenko. “I know MMA fans have been wanting to play as me and pitting me against any opponent. Now they will have their opportunity.”
Fedor Emelianenko, a 6’0”, 231-pound Russian heavyweight mixed martial arts fighter, who excels in Sambo and Judo, holds a 30-1 record and is the current WAMMA Heavyweight champion. Emelianenko defended his WAMMA championship by knocking out former UFC Heavyweight Champion Andrei Arlovski.
Gegard Mousasi, a former Dream Middleweight champion, has a current record of 25-2-1 and won his last match in Dream 9 against Mark Hunt this past May. The 6’1”, 185 pound Dutch-Armenian fighter will be taking on Renato Sobral to determine STRIKEFORCE’s Light Heavyweight champion and has a fight style that is a unique blend of Dutch kickboxing and judo.
Sobral, hailing from Brazil, is known for his aggressive style, grappling prowess, and high-caliber submissions. He is the current STRIKEFORCE Light Heavyweight champion and has a record of 35-8 with his last victory coming against Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou at Affliction: Day of Reckoning fight earlier this year.
“I am very excited to have Fedor, the number one heavyweight in the world, as one of the top fighters in EA SPORTS MMA,” said Executive Producer Dale Jackson. “He is one of the elite fighters in the sport today and will provide the ultimate competition for our gamers. The EA SPORTS MMA team at Tiburon has been working on the game for over a year already and we will have a lot more great fighters and other exciting news to talk about soon.”
In addition to appearing in the EA SPORTS MMA video game, Mousasi and Sobral will be sponsored by EA SPORTS for the STRIKEFORCE fight.
EA SPORTS MMA will feature the most authentic, intense and broad mixed martial arts experience to date — complete with a vast array of top fighters and fighting styles from around the world. EA SPORTS MMA will be available on the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system and the PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system.
For more information about EA SPORTS MMA, log onto www.easportsmma.com or follow the game on Twitter at www.twitter.com/easportsmma.
EA SPORTS™ is the leading interactive sports software brand in the world, with top-selling titles and franchises including Madden NFL, FIFA Soccer, NHL® hockey, NBA LIVE basketball, NCAA® Football and Tiger Woods PGA TOUR®.
* As ranked by Sherdog.com
Samit Sarkar is a founding Destructoid editor and go-to Sports guy. Samit was the son of the Duke of Knees, rescued from a burning village in the afghan desert by a golden condor. He is an ace Backgammon player and lost both legs in a whaling tour. He lives for free in a nursery in Scotland where he teaches monks how to capture butterflies without hurting them.
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Contest:
5:00 AM on 07.30.2009
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I could Fedor being in both. I mean EA has Randy Coture too, right? He's currently in the UFC and Dana White said he was making an exception for him, so the same could apply for Fedor.
Has anyone noticed a lack of blood in UFC since the recent update?
video game or not
Fedor will come to Dana soon enough, when the world starts questioning if Fedor is just too scared to fight in the UFC.
While that might be true I won't believe until I see it. He's been fighting chumps lately. Lets get him some real competition and see how he does.
Fedor is not a huge PPV draw anyway. If that was the case, Affliction would still be in business.
^^ The last fight I saw Emelianko in was against Andrei Arlovski. He's no chump.
True that. But there are a handful of other fighters that are ranked higher than Andrei Arlovski at the moment. People, myself included, want to see Fedor go toe to toe with Randy Couture, Brock Lesnar, Frank Mir, and my personal favorite Nogueira. Hell, even Shane Carwin(sp) would be an interesting match-up. That dude is a machine at the moment.
Fedor's last fight before Arlovski was against Tim Sylvia who is nothing compared to what he used to be. Let's get him in some consistent match-ups with top tier opponents. I want the guy to prove without a doubt he's the best by crushing the heavyweight division in the UFC.
It's about more than money. I assure you, Fedor's well and truly set for money. It's about signing away exclusivity and likeness as well as UFC not allowing Fedor to compete in his somewhat traditional sambo tournaments.
If Dana White wasn't such a douchebag about the whole cross-promotion thing they could all be raking it in.
@Vamino: It's about money. The sambo thing has never been as much of an issue as they've pretended it is, and there is absolutely no reason for the UFC to co-promote with anyone at this point. M-1 doesn't bring anything to the table except for Fedor and ultimately he's just one fighter.
Lesner sucks as a MMA fighter,all he is is a huge dude who is a good wrestler.Randy Coulter was doing a good job in his fight with Cock but Lesner was just to big for Randy to overcome.