Unlike other sports gaming franchises, EA Sports UFC is a series that aims to further refine and evolve itself by taking its time in development and returning with some fresh ideas and gameplay changes. EA Sports UFC 6 arrives nearly three years following its predecessor, and it offers some of the most engaging content and gameplay I’ve experienced since the UFC Undisputed series all those years ago. This game also managed to reignite my interest and appreciation for UFC while catching me up to speed on what the current generation of MMA legends have shown in the octagon, both in footage and in-game. 

How did EA Sports UFC 6 get me back into the game? Pun aside, EA Sports UFC 6 manages to hit most of the areas I was looking for when it comes to an MMA fighting game, including depth in its content and gameplay systems. Someone getting into a UFC game for the first time in several years will have a lot to pick at, including a narrative-driven career mode and one for your own created fighter, similar to WWE’s own wrestling games. EA Sports UFC 6 is clearly an iterative game following up on 2023’s UFC 5, but with that as the expectation, UFC 6 still presents a lot of value that UFC fans will appreciate.

There’s A Lot of Game in EA Sports UFC 6

After a UFC octagon-infused tutorial of the game’s controls and creating your own fighter for your online profile, EA Sports UFC 6 lets you dive into whichever mode you want, including online multiplayer, the career mode, and the Hall of Legends mode to name a few. If you’re coming off of a modern-day wrestling game like WWE 2K26, then the overall layout of this game should feel somewhat familiar. For single-player oriented folks, the career mode definitely stands out, and I certainly recommend starting here to get the basic feel of combat down before heading to multiplayer.

The Legacy is a story-driven career mode that puts you in the gloves of Chris Carter, a fictional MMA fighter whose about to have their big break in the UFC. Carter wants to live up to this father’s wrestling legacy by being a UFC superstar, but he has obstacles in his way, including himself and his BelieveMMA gym partner Danny Lopez. The story begins with Carter in a UFC pre-match conference as he attempts to answer a rather distasteful question alluding to nepotism regarding his UFC career, but this was just a teaser of what happens later on. Instead, the game takes you back to basics two years prior, as Carter and Lopez train with their coach at the BelieveMMA gym. Their collective goal is to transform the gym into a world-renowned stage for up-and-coming fighters, but individual interests can prove to be contentious. 

You progress the Legacy as you would in a typical UFC career mode, but there are narrative twists and turns here. Not only will you train as Chris and improve his overall fighting prowess, fitness, and abilities, but you will be able to make important choices along the way that will affect how Chris’ reputation in the world of MMA grows. The Legacy combines management systems and UFC fighting game mechanics together with a main story that doesn’t move the needle in terms of story writing, but still keeps you interested in how Chris evolves. The week-by-week management system is simple but robust enough to make you have to think about what’s optimal for Chris, such as training reps, learning new moves, conducting interviews, and building up by engaging with Chris’ fan base online.

Besides the Legacy, you can take your created fighter into career mode and online multiplayer to rise up the ranks in ranked matches and/or earn rewards by raising up your Gym Level and completing numerous in-game challenges, such as landing a number of body strikes or completing matches with a certain fighter. There are well over 100 playable fighters in UFC 6, which can be unlocked by playing the game’s content naturally and increasing your Gym Level. Similarly, you can level up the Punch Card, which acts like a Season Pass with a reward track.

If you play the Legacy or the standard career mode at your own pace, you will be rewarded handsomely over time, but there’s also another aspect to consider when playing other content with your favorite fighters. Aside from your Gym Level, the Gym feature lets you focus progression on specific fighters to level them up and progress their own individual reward tracks. You can assign a trainer to level up your selected fighter while you play other content, so you could progress multiple fighters at once if you really put some effort.

There’s also the Hall of Legends mode, which highlights the careers and backgrounds of UFC legends Max Holloway, Alex Pereira and Weili Zhang with documentary-style snippets and playable challenges. Although the Hall of Legends mode is only a few hours worth of content at best, the mode is still packed with insightful content that will likely make you a fan of the featured fighters. You’ll navigate each fighter’s Hall of Legends to replay and interact with their most pivotal moments in their careers. By completing objectives based on the actual events of the real-life fights, you’ll get some rare rewards tied to those moments, such as fight gear and emotes. 

The Fight Week Hub rounds out the game’s key modes. Fight Week is evergreen content based on real-life UFC events, allowing you to go down the card to make picks on who you think will win their respective matches. In addition, you can complete challenges and contracts on various difficulties to earn free in-game currency and other unlockable rewards. After completing the Legacy and career modes, Fight Week is going to be the content that you keep coming back to regularly alongside online multiplayer. 

Evolved, Hard-Hitting Combat

If you’re a new player, the Legacy is where you’ll likely get the basics of the controls down-packed. You’ll learn how to do combos, alternate strikes, perform clinches and takedowns, and much more just by playing training sessions. Outside of matches, you can adjust the controls and overall difficulty to your liking through various in-game options. There’s also an Assisted feature that will simplify controls and perform combos with basic button presses. On the other hand, if you’ve played UFC Undisputed or any other UFC game from the past 10 years, the combat system of EA Sports UFC 6 should feel right at home.

The new Flow State mechanic finally brings that adrenaline factor to MMA fighting games. Flow State builds up through combat, and when the gauge is full, you can enter Flow State to heighten your fighter’s unique abilities and traits. Each Fighter’s Flow State is accompanied by Flow Boosts and passive effects that will trigger under certain conditions, such as evading with a sway or hitting a long range punch. Flow State makes each fighter stand out, and I enjoy how technical the game can get while still being approachable. With a diverse roster with legends like Georges St. Pierre, Anderson Silva, and Conor McGregor, there’s going to be a fighter that suits your playstyle, whether its a submission expert or leg sweeper.

Stance changing is still an important aspect of UFC 6, but there are options that make it easier to manage and get a good handle of. Orthodox controls ensure that button inputs remain in the orthodox layout after switching, and the opposite applies when southpaw controls are enabled. Time Dilation and Stand-Up Assist features will slow down key gameplay moments and provide striking and defensive control assists in offline play, preparing and easing you into the combat system before turning the dial up back to unassisted settings. There’s a lot to appreciate with these features, but if you’ve moderately played any UFC game in the past, you likely won’t need to toggle them.

Overall, EA Sports UFC 6 has a very engaging and deep combat system that lives up to the intense and technical nature of the in-ring product. It’s definitely the best combat sports gameplay out there thanks to its hard-hitting feel and new features. Flow State adds a new dynamic that rewards you for your strategies in each round, and it caters toward certain fighting styles and play styles alike. UFC 6 doesn’t necessarily revolutionize the gameplay that UFC fans come to know and expect, but the new additions and tweaks go a long way in making this game have a strong core gameplay system.

EA Sports UFC 6 is a Top-Class Sports Game in 2026

EA Sports UFC 6 didn’t need much to become one of the best sports games of the year, but it certainly had what it needed and more to reach that praise in my eyes. Surprisingly, EA Sports UFC 6 respects you by offering a lot of content without needing to worry about additional DLC or purchases. All the aforementioned modes are there and waiting to be played, and you’re rewarded for playing them with unlockable cosmetics and fighters. Sure, there are some UFC legends that are still missing in UFC 6, but the launch roster is seriously stacked. The “World’s Most Dangerous Man” Ken Shamrock is there, too, so the UFC and pro wrestling fan in me is really pleased. If there’s one gripe I had to point out, it’s the lack of a PC port here. I think there’s no harm in bringing EA Sports UFC 6 to Steam, especially when other EA games are there.

EA Sports UFC 6 brings a solid foundation that the series can build off of even further. I’d love to see more Hall of Legends content, especially with the sheer wealth of video content that the UFC vault has by this point. There’s also untapped potential in expanding that mode with more matches, similar to WWE 2K’s Showcase mode. That’s just my suggestion, but I think EA Sports UFC 6 is a really feature-rich and realized sports-fighting game that can go unrivaled this year, especially with its fun gameplay system. It’s also notable that the Frostbite engine isn’t holding back UFC 6 either. Instead, the engine allows this game to thrive with the Flow State mechanic and other advancements. It’s safe to say that we have a really good UFC game in our hands.

There’s so much to dissect in EA Sports UFC 6, but if you bought the Ultimate Edition, you can get right into the game before launch on June 19 with early access. The Ultimate Edition also grants you the Fighter Pass with immediate Ken Shamrock and Randy Couture unlocks and six additional fighters down the line, an Expansion Pass for two upcoming DLCs, the VIP Pass, and a slew of unlocks. Fortunately, there’s nothing in the Ultimate Edition that’s glaring or anti-consumer in my eyes, as it’s more fighters, cosmetics, and content on top of the load you’re already getting. 

Disclaimer: EA provided a PlayStation 5 key of EA Sports UFC 6 Ultimate Edition for review purposes.