Since the 1990s, there has been a fun narrative circulating in the gaming world. The “EA curse” is what it’s called. Electronic Arts is responsible for a number of renowned sports games, including FIFA, Madden NFL, and, of course, the UFC.
In 1999, when EA Sports brought the idea of covering athletes to their yearly version of Madden, there has been a tendency for which players featured on the game’s cover to perform poorly or suffer some type of catastrophe. It’s known as the “Madden curse,” and you’ve most likely heard of it.
Much like other major sporting video game franchises that have the “Madden Curse,” the UFC is tied to the presently active video game cover-related curse. The cover of the inaugural EA Sports “UFC,” published in June 2014, featured Jon Jones and Alexander Gustafsson. Jones struggled with substance abuse and pled guilty to hit-and-run afterward.
He was stripped of the light heavyweight championship and barred from the promotion as a result. He was even demoted to the role of the face of the UFC mobile game. Gustafsson subsequently lost both of his next two fights since appearing on the cover.
Conor McGregor surrendered to Nate Diaz at UFC 196 and Ronda Rousey was destroyed at UFC 193. With this EA Sports released the second title in their UFC franchise with both covering athletes coming off defeats.
EA Sports “UFC 2” was released on March 15, 2016, and their game publishers struggled to capitalize on the personalities it planned to lean on.
Rousey’s loss was the most catastrophic of the two, as it significantly changed promotional plans for the game, with her walking away from the sport for a period of time and the air of invincibility that helped her become a household brand fading. McGregor still had the featherweight title.
Israel Adesanya broke EA Sports UFC cover curse at UFC 253
Fans started to see a trend of bad luck befalling the fighters picked to fill the covers. Ronda Rousey, Conor McGregor, and Jorge Masvidal all lost their subsequent fights after being highlighted in the UFC game.
That was not the case for Israel Adesanya, who overcame the alleged curse in spectacular fashion at UFC 253. It’s not surprising that “The Last Stylebender” shattered the mold; he’s been doing it since his debut in the UFC.
Adesanya’s second-round TKO victory against Paulo Costa on Fight Island in Abu Dhabi was the 31-year-old’s second successful defense of his middleweight belt.
The Nigerian-New Zealander, who has over 100 professional fights under his belt, ripped “The Eraser” to shreds. The Brazilian striker, Costa, entered the fight with an unbeaten 13-0 record; with four of his five UFC victories coming via TKO, he was widely regarded as the division’s most dangerous fighter.
What EA curse?… pic.twitter.com/rjUQtLeO7z
— Israel Adesanya (@stylebender) September 27, 2020
“I know this game, I don’t just play this on EA Sports, I play this for real,” he said after the fight. “So when I do this, I know what I’m talking about. I still have to watch it again, little bit sloppy, but I’m a dog and I do what I do.” (h/t via- South China Morning Post)
People watching regularly draw parallels between Adesanya and middleweight icon Anderson Silva, but no one performs as Adesanya does. He’s very much his own legend.