EA UFC 5 Update 1.008 Patch Notes For Today (April 25)

Michael Venom Page makes his UFC 5 debut with today’s update.

Highlights

EA Sports UFC 5’s update introduces new fighters like Michael Venom Page with impressive stats and gameplay changes.
Today’s update once again includes major changes to striking and grappling.
Make sure to check out the full patch notes for update 1.008 to see all the changes in UFC 5.

EA Sports has announced that a brand-new update for UFC 5 will be deployed for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S today. The update is being called “round 2” of the massive roster update that was announced at the beginning of the month, adding a further nine fighters whilst also making significant gameplay changes.

After making his UFC debut at UFC 299, Michael Venom Page looks to make waves in the gaming world now too as he joins UFC 5’s expansive list of fighters. Page will join the Welterweight roster with a 98 accuracy rating, 97 footwork, and 97 head movement. He will also be accompanied by the likes of Drew Dober, Marcin Tybura, Manel Kape, and many more.

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It’s not just all about the new fighters though, as today’s update is once again making balance adjustments to striking and grappling. From stamina changes to superman punch improvements, there’s a lot to dissect from today’s patch. To find out everything included in update 1.008 for April 25, check out the changelog below.

EA UFC 5 Update 1.008 Patch Notes

Below, you will find the official patch notes for today’s EA Sports UFC 5 update, which brings the game to version 1.008 on PlayStation 5.

New Fighters

Matheus Nicolau (#5 FLYWEIGHT)
Virna Jandiroba (#5 WSW)
Manel Kape (#6 FLYWEIGHT)
Natalia Christina da Silva (#8 WFW)
Nassourdine Imavov (#8 MW)
Marcin Tybura (#8 HW)
Stephen Erceg (#10 FLYWEIGHT)
Michael “Venom” Page (#13 WW)
Drew Dober (#15 LW)

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These will be added on April 30, 2024, at 10 am PT

Striking

Slowed down the recovery of short-term stamina.
- The speed changed mostly on the high end, from when the stamina was higher than half. When the stamina is low, the recovery is almost unchanged.
Sped up the recovery of the short-term block meter.
- This was a highly requested change, which aims to slow down the pace of the fights, by discouraging constant attempts at breaking the block and incentivizing attacking the body and legs more frequently.
Fixed an issue that could allow head movement to evade body uppercuts.
Sped up the execution of several strikes for higher weight classes, decreasing the speed difference between the heavier and lighter divisions.
- In most cases, this means a 2-frame reduction for LW, WW, and MW; and a 4-frame reduction for LHW and HW.
- For faster strikes, the difference between weight classes was already appropriately small. The affected strikes were the relatively slow ones, that had 30 frames or less in the faster weight classes:
  - Head:
    - 720 Spinning Kick
    - Axe Kick (Lead and Rear)
    - Cartwheel Kick
    - Crane Kick (Lead and Rear)
    - Double Flying Knee
    - Ducking Roundhouse
    - Flying Knee (Lead and Rear)
    - Handplant Kick
    - Hook Kick (Rear)
    - Jumping Roundhouse (Lead and Rear)
    - Jumping Switch Kick (Lead and Rear)
    - Question Mark Kick (Lead and Rear)
    - Rolling Thunder
    - Spinning Backfist (Lead)
    - Spinning Elbow (Lead)
    - Spinning Heel Kick (Lead and Rear)
    - Sprinting Flying Knee
    - Superman Elbow
    - Superman Punch (Lead and Rear)
  - Body:
    - Body Handplant Kick
    - Body Jumping Spinning Side Kick
    - Body Roundhouse (Lead and Rear)
    - Body Spinning Side Kick (Lead)
    - Body Thompson Roundhouse
    - Body Thompson Side Kick
  - Legs:
Significantly sped up the retreating roundhouse kicks to the head, body, and legs, as well as the retreating calf kicks.
- Although it was viable to use retreating roundhouse kicks within combos, they were extremely slow when used as single strikes. This change should make it more viable to use these kicks more safely when it is hard to create space for kicking.
Slowed down the retreating rear front kick to the head.
- This technique was a little too fast for how safe and powerful it was.
Improved the Superman punch:
- Increased the base damage of the lead Superman punch from 15 to 25.
- Decreased the vulnerability of the lead Superman punch by 20%.
- Increased the base damage of the rear Superman punch from 25 to 27.5.
Shifted some properties of the body switch kick.
- Previously, the switch kick was too fast for its animation to play out properly. The beginning of the animation, the switch part, had to “be rushed”. We have significantly slowed it down, so the animation can look more realistic. As compensation, we have decreased its vulnerability and increased its damage. This makes it the most damaging body kick, along with the jumping spinning side kick to the body. It also targets the open and more vulnerable side of the torso, when fighters are in the same stance. Will you be able to time it well enough, however?
  - Increased the base damage from 20 to 22.5.
  - Decreased the vulnerability by 25%.
  - Significantly slowed down its execution (varying by weight class).

Grappling

Shifted some of the stamina cost on the ground game from short-term to long-term.
- On the one hand, the short-term stamina felt too restricting on the ground game, discouraging exciting bursts of activity. On the other hand, rounds spent most on the ground game didn’t tax the long-term stamina enough. We therefore changed the costs as follows:
  - Decreased the short-term stamina costs by 10%.
    - This includes the drain rate from the struggle in submissions.
  - Increased the long-term stamina costs by 20 % (net 8%).
    - This means that the actual long-term cost of an action will be 8% higher than before these changes.
Fixed a rare unplayable state during an exchange from the over-under clinch.
Fixed an issue that allowed the dominant fighter in the cage single under clinch to punch the submissive fighter while they defend a knee (“Whizzer escape”).
Fixed an issue that prevented fighters from walking into the tower feet on hips position in practice mode.
Fixed a rare animation issue when performing a collar tie clinch entry against a ducking opponent.
Fixed a rare animation issue when performing a collar tie clinch entry from the side (after an evasion).

Misc. Additions and Updates