Greetings! The March update has arrived and includes two new ranked fighters: Sean Brady (#7 WW) and Jalin Turner (#9 LW). Regarding gameplay adjustments, we’ve increased the stamina cost of blocked, missed, and evaded strikes in the stand-up and fixed a strike tracking issue with the spinning strikes. For grappling enthusiasts, canceling a double leg into the over-under clinch now requires a 1% stamina advantage, and ground and pound submissions will require a health event. Those are just some of the notable updates in this patch.

Our team is working diligently to implement the changes requested throughout the UFC 5 community, so keep the feedback coming because we are listening. We are committed to bringing you more gameplay balance updates and additional content in the future, so stay tuned to our patch blogs and social media channels.

You’ll find additional EA SPORTS UFC 5 patch details below:

Patch Launch Date/Time and Launch Downtime

• March 5, 2024, at 2 pm PT / Launch Downtime: None

NEW FIGHTERS

• Sean Brady (#7 WW)  
• Jalin Turner (#9 LW)

UFC 299 Fight Week Challenges and New Alter Egos

• These will be added on March 5, 2024, at 4 pm PT

STRIKING

• Increased the stamina cost of blocked, missed, and evaded strikes in the stand-up.
  • This change is similar to the one in the previous patch, but bigger:
    • + 7.5% for blocked strikes (+2.5% the previous patch)
    • + 10% for missed and evaded strikes (+5% the previous patch)
  • Even though the change is larger than the previous tuning, it is an incremental change rather than an overhaul. You may notice we often go for more significant increases or decreases when tuning other aspects of the game. However, stamina is a very complex variable, with a heavy compounding effect. Therefore, in this one case, we have to be more cautious. We will continue to look at data and listen to the community. If stamina remains abundant after this change, we are ready to implement a more impactful change in the next patch.
• Fixed a tracking issue with spinning strikes.
  
  • Spinning strikes were unduly tracking evasions and it was possible to evade them, but it required an unintended sweet spot in timing that other strikes don’t demand. Now, they should behave like the other strikes.
• Reduced the base damage of the spinning elbows:
  • Lead: 30 to 25
  • Rear: 35 to 20
• Reduced the range of the spinning elbows.
  • The range was reduced from that of a jab range to that of a regular stand-up elbow range.
• Reduced the block stun caused by the spinning elbows.
  • This means the defender can act sooner after blocking the strike. The spinning elbows will end up at a greater timing disadvantage after they’re blocked.
• Halved the block bleedthrough caused by spinning elbows (10% to 5%).
  • This is the percentage of damage that goes through regardless of the block meter.
• Quadrupled the vulnerability conceded by the spinning elbows.
• Reduced the base damage of the regular stand-up elbows:
  • Lead: 20 to 17.5
  • Rear: 25 to 22.5
• Slightly increased the vulnerability conceded by the regular stand-up elbows.
  • From the same as a jab to that of a hook.
• Made it harder to cause the special guard breaks of specific kicks, such as hook kicks and the rolling thunder.
  • The long-term block health threshold changed from 85 (15 damage) to 60 (40 damage).
• Removed an unintended damage penalty from nose injuries.
  • It affected straight and upper arc strikes, increasing the damage by over 30%. This fix should reduce the compounding effect of causing a nose injury and make corresponding doctor stoppages significantly harder to achieve. (Nose injuries continue to inflict a 15% penalty to short-term stamina recovery speed.)
• (Improved blood particle effects from big hits when the fighter is bleeding significantly from the nose or mouth. This change was in the previous patch, but not informed in the patch notes.)

GRAPPLING

• Canceling a double leg into the over-under clinch now requires a 1% stamina advantage.
  • This is a much-requested change that aims to encourage more variety in wrestling.
• Reduced the stamina advantage requirement for canceling the single leg and low single leg into the back clinch from 30% to 20%.
• Ground and Pound Submissions will now require a health event.
  • This change’s goal is to prevent the “submission true combos” that were possible by stringing deep submissions/desperate escapes that ended up in a ground-and-pound position right into another submission attempt and subsequent finish.
• Reduced the stamina advantage requirement of some ground and pound transitions:
  • From Postured Full Guard to Stack Guard: 50 to 10
  • Stack Guard to Half Guard: 10 to 5
  • Stack Guard to Side Control: 25 to 10
• Fixed an issue with the D’arce struggle animation temporarily hiding other actions.
• Added a heel hook entry to the top stack guard ground and pound position.
  • It requires “Heel Hook Level 1,” and, according to how the ground and pound submissions shall work after this patch, it also requires a health event.
  • The input is:
    • Playstation: L2 + R1 + DOWN on the Right Stick
    • Xbox: LT + RB + DOWN on the Right Stick
• Allowed the muscle modifier to be used in the transitions from bottom mount to bottom back mount.
  • The mount feels slightly too strong after some recent ground and pound tuning. This new change is designed as an authentic and dynamic option for the bottom fighter. Its viability will likely depend on whether the attacker is more dangerous with ground and pound or submissions, as spending a lot of stamina to turn your back will mean playing with fire against the threat of a rear naked choke or armbar.
• Slightly reduced facial redness during submissions.

MISC. ADDITIONS AND UPDATES

• New vanity rewards
• Fixed some incorrect vanity descriptions
• Added simplified explanations to the rewards screen to describe where a reward was earned from
• Added the ability to purchase Online Career XP Boosts in the in-game store
• Fixed several rare crashes
• Fixed some visual glitches in the Store tab

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