Yesterday, with the public closed beta of EA Sports UFC 2 just a few days away (it drops Thursday/January 28th), fans of the series got a long-promised info dump. For months, developer Geoff Harrower, better known as GameplayDevUFC, had been promising an in-depth essay about how the game’s new grappling system works. The big change is thew dynamic/independent grappling control. All past MMA games, including the first EA Sports UFC, had grappling that was effectively turn based: One player attempts to pass, get up, or go for a submission, and the other tries to deny the move. Then one of them goes for a new move and this whole process repeats. In EA Sports UFC 2,both sides can keep attempting moves independent of each other.

Here’s the full breakdown that Harrower posted yesterday on the official EA Sports UFC forum…

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EA Sports UFC 2 – Dynamic Grappling Breakdown

Hello UFC fans, my name is Geoff Harrower (a.k.a. GameplayDevUFC) and I’m the lead gameplay engineer on EA Sports UFC. I’ve spent the last two years working on the new Dynamic Grappling system for EA Sports UFC 2, and with the public beta close approaching I wanted to share details on the overhaul our team has made to the takedown, clinch and ground games.

I’m not going to go into any detail on what new moves or positions are available, but rather how the gameplay mechanics work and how the system is different from EA Sports UFC 1.

My hope is that this information will give you the head start you need to hit the ground running with the beta, and provide us with the feedback we need to fine tune the balance for launch.

There’s a lot to get to, so let’s dive right in.

Clinch Attempts and Takedowns from Standing

The first thing you’ll want to know when getting started with the grappling system in EA Sports UFC 2 is how to perform a takedown or initiate the clinch. And the second thing you’ll want to know is how to defend against them.

If you’re familiar with the first iteration of the game, the basics should come quite naturally.

To perform a takedown, you hold LT and press the right stick away from your opponent for a double leg takedown, or towards your opponent to perform a single leg takedown.

And to defend the takedown, you hold RT and press down on the right stick as quickly as you can.

To initiate the clinch, you press towards or away from your opponent with the right stick.

And to defend clinch attempts, you hold RT and press up on the right stick.

So far everything is the same as in UFC 1, but when you get your hands on the game you’ll immediately start to notice the differences.

First is the new Grapple Assist HUD. Upon initiating a takedown, you’ll see the HUD appear on screen in the proximity of your fighter.

Familiarize yourself with this HUD. This will be your best tool in learning the new grappling system. It’s not required to play the game, but you’ll find yourself heading back to practice mode to study the techniques your fighter has available to them, and how best to use those techniques in the context of the game.

Grapple Assist

The main purpose of the Grapple Assist HUD is to show you what moves are available to you at any given moment of the fight. The HUD will show you exactly what move you will perform if you press in any one of four directions (up, down, left or right).

For example, here is a typical HUD configuration in full guard:

Not all four directions are available at any given time, and what moves are available to you can change dynamically based on the context of the fight.

Press the left trigger button, and you’ll see your takedown or submission options.

Press the left bumper, and you’ll see your advanced transitions, getups and sweeps.

Press both to see your advanced takedowns and submissions.

Pay attention to this HUD, as it will constantly be changing. Not only based on your inputs, but also based on what your fighter or your opponent is currently attempting to do.

In the case of a takedown attempt from standing, the HUD will already be highlighting the move you are attempting when it first appears (single leg or double leg).

As you perform the takedown, you’ll notice that a meter begins filling up in the HUD. This is the second big piece of information the Grapple Assist HUD will give you. How long it takes to perform your selected move.

Which leads us to another big change. You no longer have to swoop the right stick to perform a transition. Simply press in the direction of the move you want, and hold the stick while the meter in the Grapple Assist HUD fills up. Once the meter is full, your fighter will complete the move.

So you no longer have to swoop the stick, but you still can. And you just might want to. More on that later.

In Practice mode, the Grapple Assist HUD can also be used to learn your defensive options.

In the case of the standing takedown, when you press RT to defend the takedown, you’ll see the “DEFEND” option appear on your HUD.

Holding down the other modifiers will show you alternate defensive options such as wrestling and judo counters, or submission counters.

So going back to the standing takedowns.

As you perform the takedown, a meter is filling up. How fast that meter fills represents how easy/hard the takedown will be to defend.

If the meter is filling up slowly, the defender has more time to react and stuff the takedown.

If the meter is filling up quickly, it will be a lot harder for them to react in time to successfully defend.

So what controls how fast this meter fills up?

It’s a combination of four factors: move difficulty, stamina, ratings and a new concept called Grapple Advantage.

Move difficulty is determined by how big of an improvement in position the move will give you. A takedown to full guard is easier than a takedown to half guard. A takedown to side control will be more difficult than a takedown to half guard.

In addition, the game calculates the difference in stamina between the two fighters, and that contributes to the rate at which the meter fills.

Also, the difference in ratings between the two fighters is calculated, and that contributes to the difficulty calculation of the move.

Finally, the new Grapple Advantage plays a big role in determining the rate at which the meter fills.

Grapple Advantage

Grapple Advantage is a new concept that represents all the various factors that are dynamically changing in a fight that impact the success/failure of grappling moves.

Things like balance, momentum, damage and many other factors that play a role in real MMA.

Grapple Advantage is like a tug of war. If one fighter is at an advantage, the other is by definition at a disadvantage. All the advantages and disadvantages in a given moment are added together to determine who’s on top at any one moment.

There are different criteria for what provides a Grapple Advantage between the standup and in the clinch and on the ground, as detailed below.

Grapple Advantage – Standing Takedowns

High Blocking

If you are currently holding the high block button, you are at a grapple disadvantage.

Hit Reactions

If you have been hit by a strike, you are at a grapple disadvantage for the duration of the hit stun.

Counter Window

If you have successfully evaded a strike due to head movement, footwork or a parry you are at a grapple advantage through the duration of the counter window.

Mid Strike

If you are mid strike, you are at a grapple disadvantage. How much of a disadvantage you get is tuned separately for each strike. Jumping and spinning techniques leave you much more exposed to takedowns than more conservative strikes.

Health Events

If you are in the middle of a health event (rocks, wobbles, stuns, etc) you are at a grapple disadvantage.

Leg Damage

The difference in leg damage between the two fighters will contribute to grapple advantage. The one with the lower leg health will be at a grapple disadvantage.

Leaning

If you are leaning away from your opponent, you are at a grapple disadvantage.

If you are ducking down, you are at a grapple advantage.

Cage Proximity

If you have your back up against the cage, you are at a grapple disadvantage.

Grapple Advantage – Ground and Clinch

Mid Strike

When throwing a strike on the ground or in the clinch, you are exposing yourself to a grapple disadvantage.

Hit Stun

For a short window after landing an unblocked strike on the ground or in the clinch, you are at a grapple advantage.

Blocked Strike

Following a successfully blocked strike, the fighter who blocked the strike earns a grapple advantage.

Evaded Strike

If a strike is evaded on the ground due to an arm trap, bridge, or other grappling technique, the defensive fighter will be at a grapple advantage.

Successful Denial

Following a successful denial, the fighter who performed the denial is at a grapple advantage. How much grapple advantage you get off a successful denial depends on how difficult the move was to perform. A difficult move like a sweep will give your opponent much more grapple advantage off a denial than denying a more conservative move, like a pass from guard to half guard, or an escape back to half guard from side control.

Momentum

Certain moves on the ground, when completed, give a temporary grapple advantage in one particular direction, as dictated by the momentum of the move that was completed.

For example, if the bottom fighter successfully sweeps the top fighter from guard to mount using a scissor sweep, the fighter who just got swept can use that momentum to sweep their opponent back to guard, if timed correctly.

There are too many moves with momentum advantage in the game to list here, but experiment with the game and you’re sure to find them.

Move Difficulty

I touched on move difficulty briefly as being one of the factors that contribute to the size of the denial window and how long it takes for your grappling meter to fill up. There’s a lot that goes into defining a move’s difficulty, and it warrants an explanation.

Transition and Takedowns – Clinch and Ground

The difficulty of a transition or takedown in the clinch and ground is calculated based on how big of an improvement in position that move will give you. We have a number that defines how “good” a position is, and the delta between the value of your current position and where you are trying to go determines the move’s difficulty.

So half guard is more valuable than guard. And side control more valuable than half guard.

A pass from guard to half guard would be a small improvement in position and would be a low difficulty move.

A sweep from bottom mount to top guard would be a big improvement in position, and would be a high difficulty move.

A takedown from stand up to guard would be easier than a takedown from stand up to side control.

Submissions

Every position in the clinch and on the ground has a number that defines how easy or hard a submission should be from that position.

That number, along with the number of stages in the submission determine the submission’s difficulty.

So a submission from bottom full guard will be easier than a submission from bottom full mount.

A submission from postured up mount will be harder than a submission from postured down mount.

Getups and Breaks

Every position in the clinch and on the ground has a number that defines how much control that position has for the dominant fighter.

That control value determines how hard a break or getup is to perform from that position.

So a getup from SUB guard will be easier than a getup from SUB mount.

A getup from SUB guard postured up will be easier than a getup from SUB guard postured down.

A break from single collar will be easier than a break from double under.

Overcoming move difficulty

Some moves may seem impossible at first glance. The denial window for a sweep from guard to mount might be so long that it appears impossible to ever pull off.

Difficulty can be overcome by gaining a combination of grapple advantage or stamina advantage.

Easy moves that are viable right from the get go are only slightly affected by increased grapple and stamina advantage.

Difficult moves are affected a lot by increased grapple and stamina advantage.

Fighter ratings will affect the base difficulty of a move.

So a high level grappler may have a sweep that on its face appears to not be viable, but it will require much less of a grapple or stamina advantage for that move to becomes viable, than for a mid level grappler who has the same move.

Independent Grappling Control

Once you take your opponent to the ground or get them in the clinch, the single biggest change in the grappling system will become immediately apparent. Both fighters can transition independently from each other.

In UFC 1, once one fighter started a grappling move, the other fighter had only one option. Defend the transition.

In order to maintain balance, each fighter needed to be given equal opportunity to attempt transitions, and the game that resulted was a turn based grappling system.

With Independent Grappling Control in EA Sports UFC 2, both fighters can transition independently of each other.

If the top fighter in guard presses to the right to pass to half guard, the bottom fighter is free to hip out, put his feet on hips, or sit up. All without interrupting what the top fighter initially attempted to do.

This makes the grappling game more responsive, and much more strategic.

On the surface, the game becomes a lot easier to play.

If I want to go left, I press left. I don’t need to worry about anything else. You could play the game without ever knowing how to defend a transition.

But to master the game, you have to understand what determines how fast the meter fills up, because the meter that fills up first will determine which fighter gets to complete his transition.

And to re-iterate because it’s so important, the rate at which your grappling meter fills up is determined by move difficulty, stamina, ratings and grapple advantage.

Defensive Grappling

Defending in the new grappling system is very similar to EA UFC 1. Hold down right trigger and press the right stick in one of four directions to deny your opponent’s transition, takedown, getup or submission attempt.

But there are some big differences.

Direction Based Denials

In EA UFC 1, you defended left/right against transitions, and up/down against getups and submissions.

In EA UFC 2, the type of move your opponent is attempting doesn’t matter. You just have to read the animation and deny in the same direction he is moving.

On one hand this makes defending easier, because you don’t have to memorize animations and understand their intent. You just have to match the direction in which you see the move going.

On the other hand, it makes defending against specific types of moves more difficult.

You can no longer focus all your efforts on defending in one direction to avoid a submission attempt, or a getup.

You’ll have to stay alert and defend in multiple directions, regardless of what type of move is being attempted.

No Pre-emptive Denials

The other big change to defensive grappling (both on the ground and in the clinch) is that pre-emptive denials no longer work. That means you can no longer press RT and hold the stick in a direction before your opponent has started his move, and expect it to work.

Denials are only successful if timed properly, and that means they aren’t input on the controller until after the opponent has begun his move, but are input quickly enough after the move starts. The size of that window is determined by the same factors that control how fast the grapple meter fills up

To help remind you of this fact, if you do pre-emptively deny, the controller will vibrate and you’ll lose stamina. And you’ll lose grapple advantage. So don’t do it. It’s bad.

Pre-emptive takedown and clinch attempt denials from standup do work however, and are supported by new animations.

Reversals

Reversals are a new defensive grappling concept in EA UFC 2.

Reversals are basically just extremely well timed denials that leverage your opponent’s momentum to improve your position. If you input the denial early enough, and your fighter has the specific reversal in the move set, you’ll perform a reversal instead of a denial.

If it’s available, you can also deny using LT to attempt a submission reversal.

As an offensive grappler, there is only one way you can avoid getting reversed, and I touched on it earlier.

The swoop.

As I said before, swooping the right stick is not required in EA UFC 2.

But if you do swoop, and you time the swoop perfectly at the very end as the grappling meter fills up, you will become immune to reversals and you’ll shave off a bit of the stamina cost of performing the move.

However, if you swoop early, you’ll incur a greater stamina hit and you’ll be left open to reversals.

So if you want to benefit from as much stamina savings as possible, and avoid getting reversed by a top level grappler, keep your technique tight and swoop the stick at the end of the grappling meter.

If you swoop successfully and your opponent inputs his denial early enough for a reversal, that reversal will be downgraded to a regular denial.

One important thing to note here, is that the game can be played without the HUD, which means you won’t be able to see when the grappling meter fills up.

In order to allow you to perform a perfect swoop with no HUD, the controller will vibrate with increasing intensity as you approach the perfect window.

So with a little practice, you should be able to hit that perfect timing window with your eyes closed.

Ground and Clinch Striking

Striking on the ground and in the clinch is performed the same as in EA UFC 1, by pressing the face buttons on the controller.

The left bumper modifies the strikes for an elbow, up on the left stick modifies for hammer fists and down on the left stick modifies for hooks.

Blocking on the ground and in the clinch works the same as in the stand up game. Right bumper for high block and right trigger for low block.

Striking and Transitions

How striking and transitions interact with each other has changed quite a bit.

In both the clinch and on the ground, strikes from dominant positions (Thai Clinch, Mount Postured Up, etc…) will interrupt any transition attempt by the opponent with a special mid transition hit reaction, as long as the submissive fighter’s stamina is below 80% and the dominant fighter’s stamina is above 30%.

If you successfully block a dominant strike, you are free to attempt a transition without fear of a strike knocking you out of your transition. But holding block exposes you to a grappling disadvantage as mentioned earlier.

Also keep in mind that by throwing a strike you are exposing yourself to a grapple disadvantage, so be aware of your stamina and always consider re-establishing control before inflicting more damage.

Grappling Strike Counters

From certain positions on the ground, there is a new mechanic in EA UFC 2 called grappling strike counters. These are special grappling moves that become available only when your opponent is throwing a strike. By timing a right stick press to either the right or left, depending on which side the strike is coming from, you can counter the strike with a grappling move.

These grappling moves range from arm traps that can lead to sweeps, to hip bumps and bridges that can lead to posture breaks or escapes.

These grappling counters show up on the Grapple Assist HUD when an appropriate strike is thrown by your opponent, so explore the options with your favorite fighter in practice mode to see what’s available.

Advanced Features

Persistent Transitions

When two fighters attempt a transition at the same time, the most likely outcome is that one fighter will get to complete his transition and the other won’t.

But some moves are different.

These moves will continue to execute even after the opponent completes the move he’s attempted.

For example, if the DOM in full guard is trying to pass to half guard, and the SUB fighter has hipped out and is trying to get up, the SUB fighter will remain hipped out even if the DOM fighter passes. He’ll remain hipped out and his grapple meter will continue to fill.

Once it fills up, he’ll complete the getup from half guard that he started from full guard.

There are many moves with this property, and it’s important to be aware of them.

If you are about to fall victim to one, it’s important to know that the denial window opens up on any persistent transition immediately after the first transition completes.

So in the example given above, the DOM who passes to half guard should immediately deny the getup attempt once he gets to half guard.

That will put him at an immediate grapple advantage.

If he fails to do so, the SUB will complete their getup before he can complete a transition of his own.

Move Difficulty Class

As I described above, the denial windows and grapple meter fill rate are influenced by move difficulty, stamina, ratings and grapple advantage. But the degree to which each of these play a role is different depending on which move you are attempting.

Each move has a different class of difficulty, which determines which of stamina or grappling advantage plays the biggest role in reducing the denial window size and meter fill rate.

A move is by default classified as 50/50, meaning each has equal effect.

But some moves benefit primarily from a stamina advantage, and the grapple advantage won’t have as much of an effect. These would be moves that are less technical and more strength based. Think wrestling moves.

Other moves benefit much more from grapple advantage, and stamina plays much less of a role. These would be moves that are more technical in nature. Think BJJ moves.

These differences will really make fighter move sets matter. Wrestlers will be much different to play with than BJJ practitioners.

It also gives the user some choices in what move to try and execute and why.

If you are low on stamina, you may benefit more from building up a grapple advantage and going for a technical move.

If you’ve embraced the grind and worn your opponent down, you may benefit from attempting some wrestling moves.

However it is used, this adds another layer of strategy to the grappling game.

Context Specific Moves

There are some moves that are rare, and only show up in very specific contexts. Finding these moves will be hard, but once you know they exist you can use them to get the upper hand on your opponent, or avoid them to stay out of traps.

These all come up after one fighter starts a transition. This transition brings you to an intermediate sub position where you remain until the grappling meter fills up and the transition is completed.

In that sub position, most of the time the inactive fighter’s moves will remain the same, which can be seen on the Grapple Assist HUD.

But in some circumstances, new context specific moves appear. These also show up on the HUD.

Sometimes these moves are advantageous. For example, when the SUB hips out in full guard, a new pass to half guard or side control might appear where your fighter sprawls on the SUB legs, crushing them for a pass in the opposite direction.

Sometimes these moves are something you want to avoid. For example, if you’re in SUB back mount and your opponent has control of your arm in an attempt to initiate an arm bar, pressing in the wrong direction will roll you directly into the submission.

These moves are always authentic to the sport, so understanding real world MMA will go a long way in mastering the intricacies of the grappling system.

If your opponent takes you to a sub position where he has wrist control, any moves you may have had available to you will be gone if that arm was needed to perform it.

If your opponent is trying to posture up, and you throw a strike with the hand that is controlling his posture, he will get a free transition.

There’s a lot of depth and subtleties waiting to be discovered.

Transition Fakes

There’s a very advanced technique used primarily to counter aggressive lay and pray techniques called transition fakes.

If your opponent is on top of you, denying every transition you attempt but making no effort to capitalize on the fact that he’s gaining stamina and grapple advantage and is just trying to hold you down, you can use transition fakes to try and earn back enough of a stamina advantage to escape.

Simply attempt a transition and immediately cancel it.

If your opponent denies your transition after you’ve cancelled, he will successful deny you and gain a bigger grapple advantage than normal, but incur a stamina penalty.

The grapple advantage bonus would give him an easier transition or submission attempt in the moment, but once the advantage times out, he’ll be exposed to a stamina disadvantage that you may be able to capitalize on.

If this pattern continues, you can widdle his stamina down so much while regaining yours, that you should be able to escape with ease.

The onus will then be on your lay and pray determined opponent to guess whether or not you’re faking your transition to avoid this in order to execute on his strategy.

Final Thoughts

That about sums everything up. Thanks for reading.

Our team has worked very hard to add as much depth and strategy to the grappling system for EA Sports UFC 2 as possible, and we’re excited to see how these new tools are put to use.

If you have any further questions or suggestions on other topics that might warrant a similar write up, hit me up on the forums or on Twitter https://twitter.com/GeoffHarrower.

And be sure to study up in Practice Mode!