EA UFC 5 has a new update coming on Thursday, January 30.
The latest update will deliver rising flyweight Asu Almabayev and some new Alter Egos. For those who aren’t aware, the Alter Egos are secondary versions of current and past fighters.
Some capture fighters from a historic performance or a certain era of their career, and there is a group that consists of fantasy iterations of top stars.
We don’t know which fighters will be included, but I can think of five relatively recent and some historic performances worthy of an Alter Ego.
Here are five fighters who should have an Alter Ego added to the game.
UFC 311 – Merab Dvalishvili
The victory and performance are fresh, but Dvalishvili’s win over Umar Nurmagomedov at UFC 311 in Inglewood, California, is one of the greatest performances in UFC men’s bantamweight history.
Dvalishvili overcame an opponent who is legit and championship-caliber, and he had to come from behind to get it done. The champion secured seven takedowns, though 23 of them were stuffed, and he showed the kind of gas tank that most can only dream of having as part of their toolbox.
The champion has won 13 fights in a row. It’s time for a five-star version of Dvalishvili.
UFC 162 – Chris Weidman
The All-American recently separated from the UFC. He thought he might be retiring, but the Global Fight League came calling, and Weidman answered.
In any case, he is a future Hall of Famer who realizes his time in the UFC is over. Weidman is one of three men to have successfully defended the middleweight title three times or more (Anderson Silva and Israel Adesanya are the others).
He has an Alter Ego in the game, but it’s from UFC 187—Weidman’s first-round TKO win over Vitor Belfort. It turned out to be Weidman’s last successful title defense. Weidman’s most iconic win is his first victory over Silva at UFC 162 in July 2013.
Weidman slept a clowning Silva to dethrone a legend. That performance needs to be an Alter Ego.
UFC Fight Night Sweden 2017 – Alexander Gustafsson
Like Weidman, Gustafsson has signed on with the GFL. Also like Weidman, Gustafsson has an Alter Ego in the game already. However, Gustafsson’s AE comes from a fight he lost—his classic battle with Jon Jones in 2013 at UFC 165.
Gustafsson was great in that fight, but he lost. Perhaps a better version of Gustafsson to add came from his TKO win over Glover Teixeira in his home country of Sweden in 2017.
With the lights shining bright in a home game, Gustafsson put on a boxing display, culminating in a series of filthy uppercuts that knocked out the rugged Brazilian. Gustafsson even proposed to his girlfriend Moa in the Octagon following the win.
That version of Gustafsson would make for a cool Alter Ego.
UFC 269 – Julianna Peña
The reigning women’s bantamweight champion doesn’t have an Alter Ego in the game. Shouldn’t that change? Probably, but then again, neither does the pound-for-pound No. 1 fighter on Earth, Islam Makhachev. But that’s another story.
Peña is now in her second reign as champion, and she defeated a legend to win the title the first time. At UFC 269, Peña dropped and choked out the great Amanda Nunes to become the UFC women’s bantamweight champion.
That win is Alter Ego-worthy.
UFC 216 – Demetrious Johnson
The greatest flyweight in history does not have an Alter Ego in EA UFC 5. DJ has had several great performances in his career. However, the one that sticks out to me is his submission win over Ray Borg at UFC 216 in 2017.
The Mouse Trap submission is still the greatest non-KO finish I’ve ever seen. If it’s at all possible for EA to hook Mighty Mouse up with an Alter Ego, this is the performance to highlight.
As for EA UFC 6, I would be shocked if we made it to International Fight Week without the game being officially announced, or at the very least, received some news on it. Stay tuned.
