Usually when these kinds of stories pop up and can care less. I don’t care who will be on the cover of the next Madden or 2K NHL game, because I don’t care for those sports. I understand now how some players can care now that this type of story has to do with a sport I care immensely about, MMA.
With EA Sports taking over the UFC franchise and launching their first title this spring, they posted this morning on the EA Sports website that the reveal of the cover athlete will be November 4th.
The fighter we ultimately chose is one whose talent, technicality and toughness we felt best exemplified what makes us, as fans, excited to sit down with friends to watch a UFC bout, and keeps us talking about it the next day. Or week…
Only a small portion of the roster has been revealed, but they’re the big names you would expect. The last two UFC games both had champs on the cover, which just makes sense. Let’s just move through the champs to see who makes the most sense. Demetrious Johnson holds the flyweight belt, but casual fans of MMA may have never even heard of him. Jose Aldo, while being an extremely dominant champion as the Featherweight champ and super popular in Brazil, isn’t a very likely pick. Dominick Cruz? Nope, been out of the spotlight too long. Anthony Pettis just took the Lightweight belt from Benson Henderson. Being that Anthony just got the belt, I don’t see him gracing the cover. As much as I like the new Middleweight champ Chris Weidman, he’s not getting picked when so many people think his knockout of Anderson Silva was more Silva’s fault then Chris’ ability (I would disagree with them).
Georges St. Pierre, the long defending Welterweight champ, now this is a pick I could see making sense. People who aren’t even fans of MMA know who he is. He’s a start inside and outside of the octagon. The Heavyweight champ Cain Velasquez has become what some are saying the greatest Heavyweight in MMA history. The last two champs left are the ones that make the most sense to me, Jon Jones and Ronda Rousey. Jon Jones is arguably one of the greatest fighters of all time. If you don’t believe me, just look at who he’s had to defend his Light Heavyweight belt against. He has defeated legends and ex-champs of his division to hold on to his belt. As UFC President Dana White said,” He’s had to go through murderers row.” My money is on Ronda Rousey gracing the cover. She’s ranked number one in the world for women’s MMA. She’s the most dominant female fighter in MMA history. She was the sole reason women’s MMA became a part of the UFC. I think it would an incredible sight to see Ronda Rousey being the first female fighter to be on the cover of a UFC game.
The cover will be revealed very soon on November 4th.