Hi, fight fans. We would like to provide you with details and call your attention to several of the major changes included in the latest patch coming to UFC 5 on December 7, 2023.

But before we do that, we wanted to let you know that we are continuously reviewing our community’s feedback and that we are currently looking into feedback focused on the following gameplay areas: stamina drain from body strikes, stamina recovery between rounds, strikes tracking against ducking, grapple advantage, and the speed of some ground game transitions. We’ve also seen your requests for additional fighters. While Amir Albazi and Yan Xiaonan are being added this month, we have five new fighters coming in January and three more in February.

Looking even further ahead, we will add new fighters and make additional gameplay adjustments/balances in future updates. Please continue to share your feedback with us and thank you for being part of the EA SPORTS UFC community. 

Let’s get into the details of this upcoming patch. Here’s an overview of the major changes arriving on December 7:

Takedowns that are set up well, which are common at a higher level of play, will now be harder to deny, whereas poorly set-up ones, common at a beginner level, will be easier.  The damage dealt by ground strikes from side control and the crucifix position has been decreased by 25%. The Muscle Modifier can now be used in several additional transitions. In Online Career, leveling up moves was made easier and the progression and unlocking of grappling moves has been fixed. Furthermore, the opponent’s HUD will no longer be hidden in higher divisions of Ranked and Online Career. 

Read on to see all of the other updates that are in this patch:

NEW FIGHTERS

New Fighters and Additional Content

• Amir Albazi
• Yan Xiaonan
• New vanity rewards

UFC 296 Fight Week Challenges and new Alter Egos will be added next week.

GAMEPLAY

Striking

• Slowed down walking recovery after striking. Fighters now have to complete their full recovery before they can walk after throwing strikes. The slower walking recovery implemented in this update is intended to reward more thoughtful distance management and counter-striking tactics.
• Fighters now need to wait a bit longer to lunge in (aka quickstep) and close the distance after throwing a strike.
• Replaced the animation of minor lunges. The new minor lunges have a more free-flowing look to them.
• Added a specific blocking attempt animation when holding a high block to defend against leg kicks. Now, instead of holding the standard ready-to-block stance, fighters will guard the side of their head when the opponent throws leg kicks.
• Fixed an issue that caused various strikes that are performed by pressing and holding the button(s) to be sped up during combinations. 
• Fixed an issue that gave some extra range to advancing strikes performed by holding the button(s).
• Fixed an issue that allowed fighters to change their movement direction when transitioning from a strike initiated by pressing a button(s) to a strike performed by holding the button(s). 
• Added new eye and forehead swelling visuals.
• Fixed rare cases of exaggerated sudden pushback reactions when fighters are struck.
• Fixed very rare instances of a knockout and doctor’s stoppage check overlapping.
• Fixed several incorrect interactions when exchanging kicks while attempting to clinch. It is now harder to clinch an opponent while they’re throwing a kick.
• Fixed a subtle animation issue with lead body crane kick animation.
• Fixed an issue in practice mode where gameplay would start a little before the fighters would appear on screen.
• Fixed an issue where the fighters would appear on the wrong sides in practice mode. The “red corner” fighter would be on the right-hand side of the screen instead of the left.
• Fixed wrong input displays for some spinning kicks.

Grappling

• Increased how much the takedown denial window can vary, especially due to Grapple Advantage (GA). Takedowns that are set up well, which are common at a higher level of play, will now be harder to deny, whereas poorly set-up ones, common at a beginner level, will be easier. Since the GA is now taken much more into account, we have decreased how much of it is conceded by holding high block.
• The Muscle Modifier can now be used for several additional transitions. There are instances where the opponent could deny transitions too easily. Using the Muscle Modifier (performing the transition while holding R1/RB) will make the transition much faster but at a higher stamina cost. This will assist against stalling tactics. The additional transitions that allow the use of the Muscle Modifier are:
  • Basic transitions from bottom side control
  • Basic transitions from bottom crucifix
  • Basic transitions from top sprawl (to backside)
• The stamina cost for using the Muscle Modifier has been halved.
• Decreased the damage dealt by ground strikes from side control and the crucifix position by 25%.
• Fixed an issue where the top fighter’s Grapple HUD could indirectly reveal the actions of the fighter on the bottom while in full mount. This issue previously made denials easier than they should be.
• Fixed a temporary unplayable state that occurs if an upkick is thrown after a flying armbar denial.
• Fixed a camera issue that occurred during the ground game after the bodylock trip from a double-leg drive.
• Fixed a camera issue that occurred during the ground game after a guillotine reversal against a driving takedown. 
• Fixed a camera issue that occurred during the ground game after performing a denial from a sprawl.
• Fixed a camera issue that occurred during the ground game after a pull-guard sweep.
• Fixed a camera issue when starting in Practice Mode.
• Fixed an issue preventing time spent in submissions from counting for dominance in judges' scoring. Submission entries and forcing desperate escapes were already working properly. Only spending time in a submission, which is a smaller factor in scoring, wasn’t being counted.
• Fixed a brief animation issue during a rear naked choke reversal against a low single leg.
• Fixed an issue that allowed fighters to force a stalemate if they tried to perform a rear naked choke reversal against a low single leg without having access to the move.
• Fixed an animation issue when fighters would initiate a bicep control block from a single underhook while standing against the cage. 
• Fixed a minor animation issue that occurred during a double leg denial that transitions into the single underhook position.
• Added a control visual for the Imanari Roll in the moves preview.
• Fixed some very rare occurrences of delayed referee interactions.
• Fixed issues that affect the moves preview for the kimura.
• Fixed an issue that affected the moves preview for the armbar.

AI

• Fixed an issue that prevented the AI from performing an arm triangle from full mount.
• Increased the frequency of turning takedown attempts from the AI.
• Granted the AI the ability to fake during submission battles. The AI will now have a chance to turn things around when the opponent has the stamina lead and is combining the Struggle mechanic with good denials.
• On the higher AI difficulty settings, the AI’s skill and timing used to defend leg kicks has been improved.
• On the higher AI difficulty settings, the AI will tend to throw more punches during the ground and pound combos, before finishing with elbows and it will also now choose not to use an elbow as frequently when throwing a combo. The frequent and fairly early use of elbows was being reported as too easy to counter before this adjustment.
• Fixed an issue that allowed the AI for Mike Tyson to perform takedowns.
• Fixed an issue with the judges scoring in extremely inactive fights. For example, the type of fight that would probably only occur when “labbing”.

Online Adjustments

• Online Career Mode:
  • Reduced the cost of unlocking moves.
  • Increased maximum prestige to 20.
  • The opponent's HUD will no longer be hidden in higher-division matches
  • Fixed an issue where the single and double leg takedowns were not gaining EXP if they were performed during an Online Career match.
  • Fixed an issue that occasionally caused significant input delay after a Health Event occurred. 

• Ranked Online Mode:
  • The opponent's HUD will no longer be hidden in any division matches.
  • Improvements to the matchmaking will make it easier to find matches in the higher divisions
  • Fixed an exploit where players could cause an automatic loss for their opponent.
  • Fixed an issue that occasionally caused significant input delay after a Health Event occurred.

MENU ADJUSTMENTS AND MISC. FIXES

Menu Adjustments

• A “More Offers” tab has been added to the Store menu to showcase certain offers permanently.
• The Store main menu now displays a dot badge when the store receives any major updates.
• The Punch Card can now be accessed directly from the main menu

Misc. Fixes

• Fixed an issue where when a button is held to skip to the end of the fight replay, the replay would be seen from a distorted camera angle.
• Fixed an issue where VRR was causing input lag.
• Fixed several rare occurring crashes.
• Fixed the issues that would occasionally cause the game to hang while switching between the different menus.
• Several small updates to some of the UFC fighter appearances/likenesses.
• Various minor bug fixes and improvements.

We are continually striving to improve UFC 5 based on your feedback and are committed to providing you with future updates and transparency when it comes to those updates through these blogs. Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to provide feedback and please stay tuned, there’s much more on the way.

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This announcement and related content may change as we listen to community feedback and continue developing and evolving our Live Service & Content. We will always strive to keep our community as informed as possible. For more information, please refer to EA’s Online Service Updates at https://www.ea.com/service-updates.