In early April, EA set martial arts fans into a foaming frenzy by announcing that Bruce Lee would appear as a playable character for those with enough skill to beat EA Sports UFC on Pro difficulty. But it was an announcement, and nothing more. The accompanying reveal footage was less than satisfactory, putting Lee at the very end, and not even bothering to show the legend considered to be the father of mixed martial arts in action. Disappointing to say the least. Thankfully, there's some new footage out now that shows Lee doing what he does best, namely, kicking ass faster than most of us can blink.
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Whether or not you know little if anything about Bruce Lee, even if you haven't bothered to see a single frame of his movies, if you're a fan of fighting games, you've experienced Lee. Fei Long in Street Fighter? Bruce Lee. Liu Kang in Mortal Kombat? Also Bruce Lee. Yoshimitsu in Tekken? Well, no, but Law? Yep, totally Lee inspired. Each fighting game has their own version of the legend, and given Lee's contribution to martial arts and to the UFC by proxy, it stands to reason that he finally stand on his own two feet and feature in a game after all these years.
The video below explains has fighters Jon Jones and Anthony Pettis alongside UFC President Dana White explaining exactly how Lee contributed and impacted a sport that wouldn't come into being until long after Lee had tragically passed. It's also interspersed with some nice cuts of Lee's lightning quick kicks and jabs, showing how dangerous of an opponent he was in life, and how difficult he'll be in EA Sports UFC.
EA Sports UFC will be the first UFC game to feature female fighters with Miesha Tate and Ronda Rousey, who appear alongside other titans of the sport such as Georges St-Pierre, Chuck Liddell, Frank Mir, Forrest Griffin, Rashad Evans, and others, with more than 30 fighters in all.
The game is due out on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on June 17.
