EA UFC 5 Trailer Teases Eye

Alexander Volkanovski (Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Zuffa LLC)

The EA UFC 5 trailer that dropped on August 24 at Gamescom was almost as short as a fight between Jorge Masvidal and Ben Askren.

As was the case in that classic combat sports rout, there was a message sent in the EA UFC 5 trailer, despite the brevity.

Take a look in case you missed it.

For decades, trailers have shown off the best visuals games have to offer. In previous generations of gaming, the things you see in trailers were rarely as beautiful once you got the game in your hands.

However, on the current generation of consoles, the platforms can deliver actual gameplay on par and beyond what used to be exclusive to cinematic cutscenes.

Because of this and the beauty of EA UFC 4, there is reason for excitement as it pertains to the potential visual fidelity of EA UFC 5.

Again, the shots in the trailer are brief.

We see the Vegas Stronger moniker at the top of the Octagon cage, a sky view of an arena just before the start of the first round of a UFC pay-per-view, and it appears Herb Dean may be the referee in charge.

We also see a closeup of what appears to be UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski, but the fighter's face isn't revealed.

Considering Volkanovski tops almost everyone's pound-for-pound list in mixed martial arts, it's logical to project he'll be at least one of the game's cover athletes, if not the only one to be anointed as the face of the game.

The franchise has gone with dual cover athletes for every version, sans EA UFC 3 when Conor McGregor held the post alone.

The first game in the series had Jon Jones and Alexander Gustafsson on the cover, EA UFC 2 had Ronda Rousey and McGregor, and EA UFC 4 had Israel Adesanya and Masvidal.

Volkanovski is a fitting cover athlete worthy of holding the spot solo. Still, if he is given a tag-team partner, it could be recently retired future Hall-of-Famer Amanda Nunes, current UFC Women's Strawweight champion Zhang Weili, Adesanya, UFC Welterweight champion Leon Edwards, or even brand-new UFC Men's Bantamweight champion Sean O'Malley.

The latter would make sense for the UFC, considering O'Malley is a legit gamer who streams on Twitch and has over 150,000 followers on the platform.

O'Malley's star power is undeniable.

He headlined UFC 292 with now-former champion Aljamain Sterling, and the show reportedly produced the UFC's biggest bantamweight title main event ever on pay-per-view. The UFC 292 gate was a whopping $7.25 million.

UFC President Dana White attributed much of that to O'Malley, saying, "O'Malley isn't going to be a star, he is a star."

Cover athlete decisions are made months–and sometimes a year–before a title is released.

Because of the process, the charismatic star might not be one of the cover athletes for EA UFC 5. If he isn’t one of the fighters on the cover, it would be wise to feature him prominently in gameplay trailers as we move closer to the release date.

The game will be revealed entirely in September, more than likely the weekend of Sept. 8-10, which is the same weekend for UFC 293 in Australia.

Considering it has been in development for more than a year, it would not be surprising to see EA UFC 5 get an October or November release date.

Stay tuned for more information on the game as it becomes available.