UFC 5 Fans Slam EA For Lack Of Authentic Muhammad Ali Animations

EA Sports UFC 5 has only been available for a matter of days (albeit only in early access exclusively to digital deluxe owners) but players are already picking apart a major flaw with the DLC fighter and boxing legend, Muhammad Ali.

Despite Ali’s final bout being all the way back in 1981, and the fact that he passed away in 2016, the boxing legend still appears in new video games to this day. His most recent appearance comes in the recently released MMA video game, UFC 5. However, unlike other combat sports titles, such as Undisputed, Ali does not feature any custom animations for his stance and punches. Instead, his animations are copied and pasted from another UFC fighter.

As you can imagine, UFC fans haven’t taken too kindly to this. TikTok star ‘EyeGameUwatch’ recently published a new video breaking down the “lazy” animations for Muhammad Ali. In the video, which can be seen below, the TikTok star compares UFC fighter Nate Diaz with boxing legend Muhammad Ali, making it quickly evident that the animations are identical.

Not only does EA claim that UFC 5 is “as real as it gets”, the real kicker comes when you realize that Muhammad Ali is a DLC character obtained through the purchase of the game’s digital deluxe edition, which costs fans an extra $30. When you expect players to pay more money for otherwise unobtainable fighters, it’s fair to say that they expect more than a simple reskin.

The video quickly went viral, amassing over one million views on TikTok and over one thousand upvotes on Reddit. Fans were all in agreeance, with one Reddit poster calling it “pathetic and lazy”. Others even made some solid arguments as to why exactly this is so lazy, comparing it to the likes of NBA 2K and WWE. “If 2k can do it for NBA player’s jumpers & free throws, or add every wrestler’s moves from different eras for WWE, then EA should be able to do the same for UFC.”

EA Sports UFC 5 is available now on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. Our official review will be going live later today, so make sure to check it out here.