When EA Sports UFC 5 was released in October, some fans were upset about how few new fighters were included in the roster. It’s not so much that the roster was empty, but the team didn’t launch with many fighters who hadn’t been in the previous entry. Given how often sports fans complain about each yearly iteration being a “roster update,” this was a surprising choice for EA Sports UFC 5. Thankfully, the developers almost immediately announced that it was working to add new fighters to the roster. Today, the team has made another step to make good on that announcement by adding five new fighters to UFC 5.
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EA Sports UFC 5 Roster Update
The five new fighters come from several different weight classes, though there is only one female fighter in this batch. It’s a nice injection of new faces that should make online play more exciting, especially in the Welterweight division. Here are the five new fighters:
- Mike Malcott – Welterweight
- Maya Bueno Silva – Women’s Bantamweight
- Jailton Almeida – Heavyweight
- Ian Machado Garry – Welterweight
- Charles Jourdain – Featherweight
Malcott has had three career fights in the UFC and has yet to lose. In his last two fights, the Welterweight has picked up Performance of the Night honors. His next scheduled fight will be at UFC 297 on January 20, when he’ll face Neil Magny. It should be a good battle, as Magny has the sixth most wins in UFC history but is coming off a 1-2 record in 2023.
Bueno Silva will also be fighting at UFC 297 for the vacant Women’s Bantamweight Championship. She’s going up against Raquel Pennington and is looking to come back from her No Contest fight against Holly Holm, where she tested positive for a banned substance.
Almeida isn’t fighting until UFC 299 on March 9. There, he’ll fight Curtis Blaydes and try to continue his undefeated streak in the UFC. The two were scheduled to fight at UFC Fight Night 231, but Blaydes withdrew, so this is a hyped bout.
Machado Garry was also scheduled to be at UFC 299 against Geoff Neal, but that fight was changed to UFC 298 for unknown reasons. Machado Garry has yet to lose in his career, so it should be fun to see if Neal can best him.
Finally, Jourdain is fighting Sean Woodson at UFC 297. Both fighters were undefeated in 2023, so even though it’s on the Preliminary card, it’ll be an exciting bout. Either way, with three fighters from this drop on the card, it’s clear that EA is trying to keep UFC 5 as up-to-date as possible.
EA Sports UFC 5 is available now on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S.
