Justin Calvert battles his way to the top in this review for EA Sports MMA.

Controls are intuitive and responsive; Rewarding Career mode; Good options for lag-free online play; Fights force you to focus on defense as much as offense; Controls are intuitive and responsive; Rewarding Career mode; Good options for lag-free online play; Fights force you to focus on defense as...

Unconvincing AI opponents; Camera gets a little crazy sometimes; Load times are occasionally longer than fights; Strikes don't always feel like they have much power behind them; Unconvincing AI opponents; Camera gets a little crazy sometimes; Load times are occasionally longer than fights; Strikes...

EA Sports steps up to challenge THQ and UFC for the belt. Does EA Sports MMA have what it takes to dethrone the champion?

Beautiful animations; great fighter models; Dream ring and Strikeforce cage; dynamic boxing

Weak presentation; awful commentaries; terrible ground fighting; bleak roster

Stepping into the mixed martial arts arena for the first time must be a daunting prospect for any newcomer, but you wouldn't know it looking at EA Sports MMA. A contender for the UFC Undisputed series' previously uncontested crown, EA Sports MMA steps into the ring with a swagger that belies its...

Controls are intuitive and responsive; Rewarding Career mode; Good options for lag-free online play; Fights force you to focus on defense as much as offense

Unconvincing AI opponents; Camera gets a little crazy sometimes; Load times are occasionally longer than fights; Strikes don't always feel like they have much power behind them

EA Sports MMA is a genuine contender for the title of best Mixed Martial Arts fighting game of the year, writes Jon Denton.

I like this game.  The control are easier than UFC.  It's good to have more companies doing this kind of game, and I hope they would get better with time.

My shins sore and calves tired, we began sparring -- practicing the technique from the lesson of the night. Putting any apprehensiveness to rest, I took a combo to the face that smashed my cheek off my black rubber mouth guard. Whoa.

Realistic and balanced fighting engine; Forces you to play smart; Multiplayer is fun

Online connectivity issues; Classic control abuses; Needs more signature animations and customization

EA MMA by the EA Sports team is the second MMA game to have been released this year. A statement which I thought I'd never have been saying, pretty much ever. Although MMA is growing as a sport, MMA sports games are still a very niche market.

THQ locked down the UFC for their video game rights, but that didn't deter EA from finally jumping aboard the fastest-growing bandwagon in America. With EA Sports MMA , the developer responsible for creating games about virtually every other sport on the planet has finally fired the first warning...

After a short while though the stance on fighters appearing in the game softened and a few ex-UFC fighters and some which are still on the books make an appearance with the most notable being Randy Couture.

Not long after THQ first released UFC Undisputed 2009, EA Sports announced an MMA game was in development. Little details were released at the time leaving many to speculate whether EA Sports was planning a hostile take-over of the UFC license.