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Fight Night developers to make EA Sports UFC

New licensed MMA game headed to EA Canada after rights to franchise were acquired from THQ.

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The developers of Fight Night will take off their boxing gloves and hop into the octagon as they have been tapped for EA Sports UFC development. The news follows up on EA's E3 announcement that it acquired a multi-year, multi-product license for the mixed martial arts franchise previously held by THQ.

EA (all the) Sports
EA (all the) Sports

EA Canada creative director Brian Hayes, who headed up the well-received Fight Night Champion, will lead the project. "Ultimately, we’re huge fans, we think we have a great team, and we are really excited to be taking on this new challenge," Hayes said in an EA news post. "We look forward to bringing the UFC video game experience to new heights.”

EA Tiburon worked on UFC's predecessor EA Sports MMA, a franchise-independent production which licensed several MMA fighters but prompted outrage from UFC president Dana White. EA Sports MMA had a warm critical reception when it was released in October 2010, but was one of several EA franchises to have its online services permanently shut down this past April.

GameSpot has made inquiries as to what this news means for the future of the Fight Night franchise as well as the EA Tiburon team that worked on EA Sports MMA, but has not yet received a response.

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