EA Sports UFC 5 Announces New Patch With 9 Fighters

Ricky Frech

04/03/2024 05:50 pm EDT

When it launched, one of the biggest points of contention with EA Sports UFC 5 was its roster. Many of the sport's top stars were left out on opening day, but developer Electronic Arts has taken steps to rectify that mistake, adding several fighters over the last several months. Today, the team revealed the next major patch that's launching ahead of UFC 300. It's set to go live on April 4th and will kick-start a release schedule that will eventually see over 30 more fighters in UFC 5 by June. The first batch coming alongside the April 4th patch brings nine new fighters, including Marina Rodriguez who fights Jessica Andrade at UFC 300.

Rodriguez is only the beginning of the fighters coming to UFC 5. By the time the team finishes releasing all of the fighters on the docket, it will have 98% parity with the current UFC Top 10 Athlete Rankings. That's great news for fans, especially anyone looking to play as one of the up-and-coming fighters in the UFC. Here is the full list of fighters coming by June, starting with tomorrow's drop (keep in mind, the dates are subject to change):

April 4

Movsar Evloev (#5 Featherweight)
Brendan Allen (#6 Middleweigh)
Marina Rodriguez (#6 Women's Straweight)
Muhammad Mokaev (#7 Flyweight)
Serghei Spivac (#9 Heavyweight)
Geoff Neal (#10 Welterweight)
Umar Nurmagomedov (#10 Bantamweight)
Tracy Cortez (#11 Women's Flyweight)
Diego Lopes (FW)

Late April

Matheus Nicolau (#5 Flyweight)
Virna Jandiroba (#5 WSW)
Manel Kape (#6 Flyweight)
Natalia Silva (#8 WFW)
Nassourdine Imavov (#8 MW)
Marcin Tybura (#8 HW)
Stephen Erceg (#10 Flyweight)
"MVP" Michael Page (#13 WW)
Drew Dober (#15 Lightweight)

May

Roman Dolidze (#9 MW)
Benoît Saint Denis (#11 LW)
Anthony Hernandez (#12 MW)

June

Pannie Kianzad (#9 WBW)
Loopy Godínez (#10 WSW)
Norma Dumont (#11 WBW)
Tagir Ulanbekov (#12 Flyweight)
Alexandr Romanov (#13 HW)
Mario Bautista (#13 BW)
Chris Curtis (#14 MW)
Jonathan Martinez (#14 BW)
Caio Borralho (#15 MW)
Kayla Harrison (WBW)
Michel Pereira (MW)
Joaquin Buckley (#11 WW)
Randy Brown (WW)

The new fighters aren't the only thing coming with the April 4th update. The team has also made a ton of balance changes that players will want to read through before hopping into the Octagon. Needless to say, this patch should have a major impact on how EA Sports UFC 5 feels in the ring, which is great to see coming alongside all of the new fighters.

Below, you'll find the full patch notes for the April 4th update. EA Sports UFC 5 is available now on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S.

EA Sports UFC 5 April Patch Notes

STRIKING

Reduced Stamina recovery between rounds by around 20%.
- After the previous increases in stamina cost for blocked, missed, and evaded strikes, we saw that stamina seemed to be in a good place at the end of the first round, but that fighters could recover too much going into round two. This new reduction to the recovery between rounds hits the recovery going into the second round the hardest and should also make a noticeable difference across many rounds, for fights that go the distance. (Despite being listed in the striking section, this change applies to between-rounds stamina recovery as a whole, not just from striking.)
Improved the evasive properties of the stationary duck.
- Its start-up has been reduced by 1 frame. This is when a lot of motion happens, as the fighter lowers their head. It should reduce cases of strikes unnaturally aiming down at the opponent's jaw as they duck already quite low. And this will particularly benefit shorter fighters. When fighters have the same height or are taller than the opponent, this new extra frame won't benefit them as much, though it'll still help. The punches will no longer go down to their chin and will instead hit the top of their head, keeping a plausible arc. This will deal a lot less damage and won't cause a hit stun. This mitigation mechanic isn't new but wasn't coming into play much, given the previous tuning of the evasion frames themselves.
Improved the evasive properties of advancing and retreating ducks.
- This change had a similar purpose but different details. In the case of these ducks mixed with footwork, the issue wasn't the start-up time to their evasion window, but that the evasion window had a gap in the middle of it. That happened right when your head was very low. We have closed this gap and now these moving ducks should behave as one would expect. No more roundhouses tracking your head super low as you retreat with a duck.
Slowed down the haymaker execution.
- The execution means how long it takes from starting the attack to landing it. These are the fastest values. Fighters who are slower or from heavier weight classes take more frames to make contact with the opponent. Even considering its shorter range, the haymaker was a little too fast related to the overhand.
  - Execution from 22 to 24 frames.
Sped-up the execution of the rear overhand.
- With both this and the haymaker's change, the overhand will become only 2 frames slower and continue to have a longer range.
  - Execution from 28 to 26 frames.
Increased the slap's base damage and damage scaling and sped up its execution.
- The slap was unnecessarily slow and didn't have any power scaling to increase its damage based on punch power. Now it should hit more than twice as hard and be significantly faster. Let's see who can score some slap KOs!
  - Base Damage from 5 to 7.5
  - Damage Scaling from 0% to 65%
  - Execution from 32 to 26 frames
Increased the stopping power of all leg kicks.
- Stopping power means how early in the opponent's strike's execution you need to hit them to interrupt them. The higher the stopping power of your strike, the later you can afford to hit the opponent and still interrupt them.
  - Lead and Rear Leg Kicks = 20% to 30%
  - Lead and Rear Calf Kicks = 40% to 50%
  - Lead Side Kick to the Leg and Oblique Kick = 60% to 80%
Made the cartwheel kick and the rolling thunder much easier to counter after blocking them.
- There is now ample time to punish these kicks after blocking them. However, timing your inputs and selecting the proper strikes with which to counter can still prove challenging, as the animations for getting after throwing the kick can naturally keep the head or torso out of reach. We recommend experimenting with potential counters in practice mode. You might be surprised!
  - Reduced the cartwheel kick's block stun by 10 frames.
  - Increased the time it takes to block after landing the cartwheel kick by 16 frames.
  - Reduced the rolling thunder's block stun by 30 frames.
  - Increased the time it takes to block after landing a rolling thunder by 14 frames.
Increased rolling thunder's base damage from 35 to 45.
- It is now much riskier and isn't as nimble and evasive as the cartwheel kick. So it now deserves an increased reward to make up for the added risk.
Increased rear hook kick's base damage from 40 to 45.
- Its main benefits are being safe on block and conceding less vulnerability than a roundhouse. But, considering how slow it is, we figured its damage could rise closer to the roundhouse damage (50).
Increased the lead and rear jumping switch kicks block bleedthrough from 30% to 40%.
- The block bleedthrough means the damage percentage that goes through the block even if the block meter is full. This is the main purpose of this kick, in comparison to the regular roundhouses. The trade-offs are being slower and less combo-friendly.
Increased the tornado kick base damage and block bleedthrough.
- As a very slow kick, it should hit harder and should make opponents care more about dodging the kick instead of merely blocking.
  - Base Damage from 50 to 52.5.
  - Block Bleedthrough from 30% to 40%.
Increased the 720 Spinning Kick (O'Malley Kick) base damage and block bleedthrough.
- This is a similar case to that of the tornado kick, except the 720 kick is even slower, and blocking them should be a terrible idea.
  - Base Damage from 55 to 57.5 (the new highest base damage).
  - Block Bleedthrough from 50% to 70%.
Sped up the lead front kick's execution.
- This should make it compete with the rear front kick, especially when advancing.
  - Standing Execution from 28 to 26 frames
  - Advancing Execution from 34 to 28 frames
Reduced the rear front kick's base damage and slowed down its advancing execution
- This kick has been a thorn in many players' sides – or rather, chin. Its damage is a bit high for how fast it is. And the advancing version should be slower, to be more in line with other rear advancing kicks. Its lead version should now be preferable when advancing.
  - Base Damage from 35 to 32.5.
  - Advancing Execution from 30 to 34.
Increased the lead side kick's base damage and sped up its execution.
- The side kicks are similar to the front kicks but safer and less explosive. Despite the lead side kick bright sides, we figured its speed and power should be closer to the front kick's and hopefully make it a more equally appealing option.
  - Base Damage from 25 to 27.5
  - Standing Execution 26 to 24.
  - Advancing Execution 32 to 28.
Increased the rear side kick's base damage.
- The rear version of the side kick didn't need as many buffs as the lead one to be more competitive in relation to the front kicks. This damage buff should make it a great option for causing and aggravating nose injuries, as the side kicks enjoy a similar buff to that of elbows and knees, against facial injuries.
  - Base Damage from 20 to 32.5.
Fixed a rare issue that could cause strikes or takedowns to mix against forward lunges performed after a series of lunges in other directions.
Tuned visual damage to match doctor check results more authentically and intuitively.
- Cuts will now only reach maximum bleeding when the cut damage is maxed out.
- Visual swelling will be more limited until the swelling damage is maxed out. This should create a clearer distinction between when eyes are almost swollen and when they are.
  - These changes should result in fewer instances of "just rub some dirt on it" moments – when it looks like it should be a stoppage but the doctor lets the action continue.
Removed reduction of visual swelling after fighters are treated by cutmen, such as when going into a new round or the official decision.
- For instance, eyes should now remain swollen shut when going into the Bruce Buffer announcement of a doctor stoppage TKO.

GRAPPLING

Significantly increased the range and speed of double legs and single legs.
- These takedowns, especially the double legs, felt like they didn't grab the opponent from far enough. They also had several "dead frames" at their beginning, which we could shave off to make them feel much smoother and more responsive. It should now be much more viable to shoot on opponents before they walk away, as well as timing your shots against incoming strikes or after the opponent misses.
Allowed the single leg to morph into the low single leg when the opponent walks out of range.
- This change should further help with the issue of takedown range.
Fixed an issue that made double legs often miss when used from combos.
- They would almost always miss even from close range. Now their behavior in combos should match that of when used as a single action.
Increased the short-term stamina cost of muscle-modified transitions by 50%.
- We had halved the cost in the December patch. It was a change that helped with the problem of some positions in the ground game being too easy to hold. However, the cost reduction went too far, and escaping from positions such as side control is reportedly too easy, now. So, we're bringing the cost to a value in between the launch and the December patch costs. These are the multipliers that apply to the short-term stamina cost of the transitions. Please note that there is still a long-term stamina cost multiplier on top of these, which we haven't changed.
  - Launch Value = x 5
  - December Patch Value = x 2.5
  - New value = x 3.25
Allowed Single Under Escapes to interrupt the dominant fighter's elbows.
- It was possible to throw the elbows continuously and guarantee that one would land "for free" when the opponent escaped, regardless of how they timed the escape.
Made the AI's ground-and-pound strike selection more unpredictable.
- It should now mix hooks and straights more equally and use elbows more rarely. Furthermore, elbows can now be used as the first or second strike in the combos, although rarely.
Lowered the chances of the AI posturing up from full guard and half guard.
- The AI was attempting these postures too frequently, making the posture attempts predictable and easy to deny, as well as making the ground and pound from these riskier positions easy to reverse. It should now be relatively more likely to pursue ground and pound from more dominant and stable positions.

MISC. ADDITIONS AND UPDATES

Added Aljamain Sterling to Featherweight
Career Mode Longevity Attribute decay will now be affected by the chosen Fighter Style and the overall impact has been reduced.
Career Mode Fitness has been increased to allow users to get to Peak Fitness faster.
Enabled vanity preview within the Punch Card when accessed from the main menu option
Updated walkout commentary for over 30 fighters
New vanity rewards added

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