There you are, struggling to get up off of the mat. Your opponent isn’t holding back on their barrage of kicks to the small of your back as you clench your teeth hoping for an opening that will seemingly never come.
Your leg gets tugged as you’re getting wrapped up into a leg lock. You scream before it’s even locked in and you struggle to get out of the compromising situation, but it’s too late. You tap out, overcome with pain. The match is over and humiliation is yours again.
In this moment, you stand and throw the controller with a frustrated sigh and proclaim with every molecule of oxygen in your lungs, “IF THIS WAS REAL LIFE I WOULD HAVE BEEN ABLE TO GET UP FROM THAT!”
We’ve all been there before. We truly believe with each red blood cell that courses through our hearts that we are athletic, smart, or fast enough to do a feat that is nearly impossible in the interactive confines of our consoles.
The sad fact of the matter is that we’re fooling ourselves, but we don’t care. There just isn’t a way that we would really be able to pit ourselves against Vitor Belfort in the Octagon without having your facial features rearranged in reality.
While I won’t presume to know what you’re thinking, I would like to think that despite all of the evidence pointing to the fact that trying to fight in an MMA match without MMA training is a really bad idea, you might go ahead anyway when given the opportunity.
The reason that I bring up our delusions of grandeur is because I have devised a rather simple solution to allow you to know how bad of an idea throwing down without training is, specifically when it comes to the rough and tumble world of UFC.
THQ’s upcoming UFC Undisputed 3 has a deep looking career mode as evidenced by the following video:This video delved into what looks like a rather detail oriented look at how the career of a real like MMA fighter goes.
I propose that THQ goes a step further.
In the trailer, you see that the training aspect of the life of a MMA fighter is an important part of the career mode. When you watch a UFC event on TV you always hear Joe Rogan and Mike Goldberg tell grand stories about the fighters’ relationship with the gym. Stories like how a fighter was homeless until he was taken in by his trainer. They go on about how the fighter lived at the gym or any other variety of other impressive claims that sound like the basis for an action movie.
My proposal is that there be a UFC Undisputed in the future that would somehow integrate features from the UFC Personal Trainer game that was released in June of last year.
One of my favorite aspects of sports games such as this is the creative modes. I love to able to create a reasonable facsimile of myself to all all of the fame and glory that I would never receive in real life. Most sports games use a system in which you can upgrade your stats as you progress in the game. I don’t have a problem with this system of leveling up; however, I feel that there could be a fun alternative that already exists.
After creating the look of your always angry avatar, it would be time to hit the gym. Working with the trainers for the real word fighters, you could get physically fit in the real world as your character gains experience and move sets to perform. After your rigorous training, you would then take a fitness test that would determine the speed, stamina, strength, and overall health of your fighter.
This mode would be optional and the fight mechanics would remain the same, but I think that it would be a lot of fun and a source of endless comedy if my friends and I would duke it out with fighters that have the same capabilities that we do in the real world.
The goal here, other than initially failing miserably in the UFC bouts, would be to encourage players to train harder. Over time, a player who would start out in less than peak physical condition could be inspired to keep hitting the virtual gym in order to further his career in game.
I know that there will be some who would feel that this would be too much for them. I understand that some may not have the time available to go through the rigorous training required to level up your in game character. I would just like the option of trying MMA fighting without really subjecting myself to grievous injury.
