UFC 5 will include doctor stoppages & enhanced damage system in new gameplay changes

The UFC 5 development team spoke with Dexerto and talked about a number of notable changes coming to franchise. Gameplay, in particular, is set to receive an significant overhaul.

EA Sports is set to revisit the Octagon this October, as UFC 5 will be released next month for the Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5.

This will mark the first installment of the franchise on these consoles, so expect much to change on the gameplay side of things.

Recently, the UFC 5 development team spoke to us about what to expect from the gameplay.

Electronic Arts

UFC 5 gameplay set to look very different

In an interview with Dexerto, UFC 5 producer Raman Bassi highlighted some of the more notable changes that are coming to the franchise for 2023.

One of those is that UFC 5 matches can be ended via a doctor stoppage. Per Bassi, though, don’t expect these to happen very often.

“Our goal with doctor stoppages was to find a sweet spot where it’s very rare, but it’s still a treat,” he told Dexerto. The development team stated its “sweet spot” is about one in every 50 fights on average.

Bassi also noted that the damage system is “significantly” different as compared to what’s been seen in the past from the franchise. And thanks to the new Real Impact System, players will now need to hunt for a different kind of win condition.

Electronic Arts

“If you’re going to take a huge shot or an accumulation of strikes in a certain region, it’s going to cause a cut or swelling just like it would in real life… and then that damage will lead to vision or breathing penalties, kind of like they would in real life.”

He added, “So on UFC 4, you could run in, and all you’re fishing for are health events. Right? On UFC 5 there’s a new meta, which is cuts, bruises, swelling. So if you get hit this year, you’re going to see a cut open up, and you’re not going to want to get hit again in that same spot. So you’re going to want to intelligently defend, move in and out, and not just swing and bang.”

Among other gameplay notes, the Grapple Legacy HUD will return for UFC 5 with new button prompts. Additionally, this year’s game will feature new two-button spinning attacks, 600 new animations to submissions, and new ground-and-pound animations.

It’s also worth noting that for UFC 5, the franchise will be moving over to the Frostbite engine. Many of EA Sports’ titles, including Madden and NHL, make use of this engine.