UFC 2009 Undisputed Video Game Looks Like a Big Step Forward for the Sport

The new Ultimate Fighting Championship video game, UFC 2009 Undisputed, is being unveiled this weekend, and it looks impressive:

Bill Barnwell of IGN writes:

The presentation of the game is downright impressive. Graphics don't look like their counterparts from UFC television and pay-per-view, they are their counterparts. You hear the swell of a medieval opera when the Tale of the Tape graphic appears, just like you do in UFC. Cameras swoop around the ring and shoot from the same angles. Everyone you'd expect to see at a UFC event is in the game, from the actual UFC ring girls to UFC referees to real cut men and cornermen. Mike Goldberg and Joe Rogan break down the action in their inimitable manner.

A few months ago I took a look at some of the issues facing mixed martial arts and noted that MMA video games have been virtually nonexistent in the United States, and that UFC hadn't managed to do what the NFL has done with the Madden game to attract fans.

But UFC 2009 Undisputed looks like it could change that. A successful MMA video game could be a big step forward for the sport.