Fans are now speculating EA Sports’ UFC game franchise may have a cover curse, after EA Sports UFC 2 cover athlete Conor McGregor lost in UFC 197.
In a hard fought match, McGregor tapped out to a rear naked choke from Nick Diaz after two rounds of fighting. Analysts state that McGregor took serious risks when signing up for this match, as he went from 145 to 170 lbs to qualify for a higher weight division.
The first announced cover athlete, Ronda Rousey, lost to Holly Holm last November. Rousey gave up the UFC’s women’s championship title to Holm that night. Interestingly enough, Holm just lost her championship as well, in a match against longtime Rousey rival Miesha Tate in UFC 197 as well. Thankfully, whether you are fans of Ronda Rousey, Conor McGregor, or their rivals, all are part of the playable roster of EA Sports UFC 2.
The cover curse is a commonly believed urban myth originating from another of EA’s sports games, the venerable gridiron football series of Madden games. As the myth goes, if an NFL athlete is selected to be the cover star of the next Madden game, the season his game comes out he either gets injured, or he or his team has a bad season. Of course, EA Sports has always insisted the curse does not exist. 17 out of 18 athletes thus far have been proverbially hit with the Madden curse.
And this begs the question; what about the first EA Sports UFC game? EA decided to put light heavyweight rivals Jon Jones and Alexander Gustaffson on the cover for this game. On June 5, 2014 UFC set a fight between the two on September. This announcement was made a few days before EA Sports UFC’s release on June 17, 2014. Gustaffson bowed out of the match in July due to a torn meniscus. A month later, Jones was also injured.
Do you think the EA Sports UFC games also now have a cover curse? Share your thoughts with us in the comments. EA Sports UFC 2 is set for release on March 15th, 2016 for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
