Rickson Gracie and Bas Rutten will be available to train you, at least in a virtual world.
Electronic Arts on Tuesday released information about the 'career mode' for its upcoming EA Sports MMA video game, and Middle Easy culled a bit more from producer Randy Chase. Among the tidbits:
-Bas Rutten will be the introductory trainer for new players.
-Jiu-jitsu legend Rickson Gracie will be a trainer and a playable fighter
-Although individual fighters from Japanese organizations Dream and Sengoku Raiden Championships will be included, the organizations themselves will not be present. Instead, the game will have a fictional Japanese promotion called Mystic as one of two premier leagues, the other being Strikeforce.
This won't be the first appearance in a video game for Rutten, a former king of Pancrase and UFC champion better known these days for his work as a TV commentator. He was used as a TV personality in Grand Theft Auto IV.
Rickson Gracie hasn't competed in mixed martial arts since 2000, but he was the family champion among the seven sons of Brazilian jiu-jitsu pioneer Helio Gracie. Rickson's fights with Nobuhiko Takada put Pride Fighting Championships on the map in the late 1990s, and he remains one of BJJ's legends, though few people outside his die-hard adherents take seriously his claim of at least 400 victories in combat sports bouts.
Also featured in the game as trainers will be five-time UFC champion Randy Couture and Pat Miletich, whose Bettendorf, Iowa gym produced four UFC champions, including himself. As with Rutten, his post-fighting career has seen him move into TV commentary.
EA Sports MMA is slated for release in the fall.
t:
