The newest patch is out for EA Sports UFC, and it’s another free update that adds a host of changes as well as three new fighters. The details about the update are here. There are some fairly substantial changes to the gameplay in this update, as I was completely taken off guard by some of the new ways a match can finish as well as how certain situations played out. I still feel that the stamina loss on strikes needs to be adjusted for certain fighters so that people can’t just spam and not be penalized, but these are mostly good changes that make the game better and add more depth.

For the new fighters, Stipe Miocic at heavyweight is probably the most deceptively good addition, as he has 92 striking, 88 ground and 86 for submissions. His 90 overall rating and weaker submissions might not appear to be much, but when you look under the hood, his perks of marathoner, fluidity and stop hitter allow him to regain stamina while moving, land good combos and wobble people. That’s a rarity at heavyweight. I’ve had good success with him online. Matt Brown (at welterweight) provides a similar template with his striking brutality, with ratings of 91 striking, 87 ground and 88 submissions. This ends up giving him a 91 overall, and his perks are all geared around surviving health events and inflicting them on others, which pretty much suits his style. Mike Pyle is the other added welterweight, and his overall rating is 89, which is based on 89 striking, 87 ground and 88 submissions. Pyle’s perks are focused on clinch fighting and damaging certain body parts. He also has the risk-reward perk of “sinister gates,” which speeds up advancement and defensive “gates” for both fighters.

As for gameplay changes, there are a slew of them, but I’ve highlighted the patch changes that stuck out at me the most.
 

This is probably the most substantial change, as now a fight can be stopped if you land too many unblocked shots while on the ground. When this is coupled with the increased damage on the ground from the last patch (even when blocking), it means that TKOs are now possible in more ground situations. I certainly had my share of TKOs before, but they were usually when an opponent was rocked or inexperienced on how to escape the ground. Now you can actually maintain position and whale on fighter until he is so damaged that the next few shots will put him out. This works particularly well from back mount, as that position used to be a stalemate for both fighters. It should be dangerous, which it now is.
 

It’s cool that EA is actually adding animations to their patches, as this is another one where the gameplay actually looks different as well as plays different. If a fighter throws a kick with a damaged leg or has low stamina, you can now catch the kick by parrying at the right time. It even bridges into a takedown animation if held down, but that doesn’t seem to happen often. This is a nice little wrinkle, but it is a stop-gap until EA has a more fulsome blocking system (likely in the next game).
 

EA kind of swung the pendulum back a bit here, as the window for reversing an opponent in full guard was too long, and it gave the top fighter an easy denial. Now a basic transition from the fighter in full guard will actually just stand up, if executed to the right or left. It gives that fighter a third option (along with L3) to escape the guard and stand up, which seems fair since the top fighter needs to do the work to advance his/her position. I’ve still found that there are complicated sequences on the ground, so this hasn’t changed the flow too much.
 

To counter some of the added block damage and TKO possibilities on the ground, the ability to escape with L3 from back mount is welcome. This doesn’t mean the top fighter will let you up any easier, though, as a get-up can be denied through holding R2 and down on the right stick or by just straight up punching you in the back of the head. The option to attempt an escape should’ve been there always, though, so it’s good to see it added.
 

Everyone likes to taunt, and it was strange not to be able to do it on your own before. Now you can with the d-pad. Expect all sorts of silly “come get it” gestures and random chest beating.
 

This change is another one that both looks and plays differently, and it’s a good thing. Instead of a single-leg takedown rewarding a player with side control like before, the takedown now falls forward into half-guard. This not only looks kind of cool, but it’s a much fairer way of rewarding the relatively “safe” single-leg takedown attempt.

There are a whole host of other tweaks and tunes, including a punch speed change for all fighters, an adjustment of denial windows on the ground (for the better), some slowed animations for strikes that were being abused online, as well as the removal of certain situations that still allowed free strikes after a transition. The AI has also been paced a bit, with an adjustment of their strike output to reduce fatigue in later rounds. All of these changes (and a few other minor things) feel like the right move initially, but we’ll have to see how things go over the next few weeks.
 

It’s really encouraging that the devs at EA Vancouver are making changes at such a dedicated pace, especially alterations that actually add new animations or change up the ways a fight can develop or finish. Adding new fighters is also welcome, and it’s a sign of good faith that they’re doing all of this for free.

Hopefully the trend continues.