EA Sports UFC 2, a game I enjoyed quite a bit despite some issues, just got a big update. Additions include a couple new fighters, a few game mode updates, balance tweaks, and the most powerful attack in all of mixed martial arts history: the Stockton Slap.
Yes, I’m being facetious. Sorta. The Stockton Slap is the name that’s affectionately been given to Nick and Nate Diaz’s tendency to, well, slap the shit out of people mid-fight. You might be thinking, “Sure, getting slapped stings like the version of hell that’s just bees everywhere, but why slap when you can punch?”
Valid question! Mixed in with punches, however, a rangy slap can actually be a great way to anger someone into making a mistake, or to simply disrupt their rhythm. Fun fact: Nate Diaz used the Stockton Slap to great effect when he rather, er, notoriously dismantled UFC posterboy Conor McGregor at UFC 196. As Fightland’s Jack Slack wrote in his analysis of the event: “There are fans out there claiming that McGregor gassed as if the fact that he wasn’t cutting weight meant he took a whole camp off of running. But those who have seen Nate Diaz and his brother Nick fight before know that this is what the Diaz’s do and understand how quickly it exhausts a man to be slapped and punched off of rhythm while he is winging his own shots.”
Now that very slap is in a video game. Bravo, EA, for adding a move that’s both a long-running MMA in-joke and a quietly excellent strategy.
The rest of the update is pretty standard, but it has some bright spots: the two new fighters are aged (but still effective) welterweight brawler Patrick Cote and flyweight prospect Louis Smolka. You can also now change your fighter’s appearance whenever you want in career mode. EA’s also tuned the ground portion of the game to give fighters on bottom a bit more of a chance (though the ground game itself still remains woefully awkward and not particularly enjoyable).
You can read the full update notes here.