UFC 2010: Undisputed

Again with an eye on serving the community, players can set up fight camps online with friends, train together and challenge rival camps in competition.

The control setup remains complex and comprehensive, faced with the challenge of accurately representing the broad spectrum of disciplines covered in MMA. "How do you fit such a nuanced sport onto a controller?" asks Dravinski, rhetorically.

"I would need a keyboard to accurately represent the game. These are all very, very tough decisions that had to be made. The ground game was a big design challenge - how do you communicate struggle, how do you indicate success or failure? This year we've made a lot of improvement: submissions are more analogue, making it less easy to transition."

Like 2009, anyone coming fresh to UFC 2010 will need to invest time before they begin to appreciate the depths of the combat system. But Dravinski isn't worried about that. On the contrary, "Much like the real UFC, if you want to be good and want to win and win consistently, you're going to have to master all aspects of the game: the ground, clinch, stand up, what have you."

It's here that Dravinski believes UFC 2010 can go toe-to-toe with the likes Street Fighter, Tekken and Virtua Fighter when it comes to depth.

"There's certain design elements in terms of frame counting and how long animation takes and interrupts that are similar across the board, whether it's a Street Fighter or a Tekken," he says. "Our designers are very aware of that, they're some of the most hardcore fighting game enthusiasts in the industry.

"There are a lot of elements of hardcore fighting games in the UFC game. Even though it's a sport and requires a little different kind of gameplay, I still think we made a very compelling fighting game experience - certainly last year and even more so this year."

And he further insists the redesigned combat system will satisfy the MMA nuts who want that level of detail from the experience. "We've redesigned and reanimated every position in the clinch and the ground game; we've redesigned the entire collision system to take advantage of the sways, leans and counters."

In play, UFC 2010 looks superb, with highly detailed models, smooth animation and palpable impact to blows. As I pin one opponent to the ground and rain down blows to his face, I actually find myself recoiling at the impact I can see them having, moreso during the multiple slow-mo replays after the ref brings it to a halt.

On early impressions, Yuke's and THQ have clearly listened to the community and addressed a number of issues head-on to create what promises to be a more complete, well-rounded MMA experience - which is exactly what you should expect from the first full update to a new sports franchise.

But a challenger has emerged in the form of EA Sports' forthcoming MMA title. Dana White has declared himself "at war" with the publisher over its decision to enter the genre. Either way, it's coming in "late 2010" and is believed to be built on the acclaimed Fight Night engine. The challenge for EA is to prove it can produce a distinctive MMA experience that is more than simply 'Fight Night MMA'.

Dravinski is less belligerent than the UFC president on the issue. "Competition's a good thing - and ultimately I think it's good for the sport," he says. "This sport has still a long way to go but it's growing exponentially in popularity - I know what we're doing and I'm really happy."

As for the real St. Pierre-Hardy encounter, GSP wins on the scorecards after dominating an exhausting encounter. But the story of the night is the superhuman resilience of Hardy, whose Dhalsim-like limbs refuse to break under astonishing pressure from the champion. Hardy's determination and never-say-die attitude wins the Brit a legion of new fans. THQ will be hoping UFC 2010 can do a similar job.