On Sept. 5, EA Sports revealed the cover stars for its UFC 5 video game, set to release later this month. On the cover will be former UFC champion Valentina Shevchenko and current champion Alexander Volkanovski.
The cover wasn't a total surprise as it had been rumored to be Volkanovski for some time but the artist renderings for both fighters drew some criticism.
The Great π€ The Bullet
β EA SPORTS UFC (@EASPORTSUFC) September 5, 2023
Your #UFC5 Standard Edition cover athletes Alexander Volkanovski and Valentina Shevchenko π€π₯π€
See the full reveal 9/7
β‘οΈ https://t.co/Buf42tWtjV pic.twitter.com/ddDQPAp4yu
See what Twitter thinks of the new cover.
UFC 5 cover got them looking like sim characters π€¦π½ββοΈ
β Bri MarnΓ© (Pretty Giraffe) (@NonGMHoee) September 5, 2023
I legit thought this was Jared Gordon on the UFC 5 cover !! ππ pic.twitter.com/lW3RNjCVyS
β Cardio King (@ColbyUfcCov) September 5, 2023
Iβve seen thousands of posters for UFC 5 and the official EA one is genuinely the worst one Iβve seen #UFC5
β Harvey Andrews (@harvandrews) September 5, 2023
dude I donβt give a shit about the cover of video games but literally anyone on MMA Twitter could of made a better cover for UFC 5
β MacMally π (@MacMallyMMA) September 5, 2023
The UFC 4 Volk model looks much better.
β ππ²π°πͺππΈππ»πΈπ·π (@GigaDoBronx) September 5, 2023
It looks like they squished his face in the UFC 5 cover π pic.twitter.com/na2fUX6NCu
"Can I copy your homework?"
β Lo Furneaux (@LouBerryB) September 5, 2023
"Yeah just change it up a bit so it doesn't look obvious you copied"#UFC5 https://t.co/GrASWSo265 pic.twitter.com/x0OHvuwZKh
Ufc5 already f up with a cover imagine how negatives the game gonna be
β FLOKI 22 (@theFlokiman) September 5, 2023
That ain't Val and that's just an AI generated Volk. Idk what to say, this is so bad π€’ #UFC5 #ea https://t.co/ryEHBxUu1n
β Jawad Dar (@JWhiteFalconMMA) September 5, 2023
A second cover of the "deluxe edition" features UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya, which got much better remarks.
β danawhite (@danawhite) September 5, 2023
"Izzy as the face is well deserved," someone tweeted.
Adesanya is gearing up to fight Sean Strickland at UFC 293 on Sept. 9. Shevchenko will be rematching Alexa Grasso on Sept. 16 and will look to regain the title she lost.
The full reveal will happen on Sept. 7, according to EA Sports and the video game will be available for sale at the end of 2023 or early 2024, according to Radio Times.