EA MMA Adds Lashley, Diaz, Three Others

EA Sports has announced the addition of five new fighters – Bobby Lashley, Nick Diaz, Marius Zaromskis, Melvin Manhoef, and Joe Riggs – to its growing roster of playable fighters in EA MMA.

The game looks to be coming along nicely. Here are a few screenshots EA sent our way this afternoon:

Payout Perspective:

There’s been some interesting discussion lately surrounding who the real main event of this next Strikeforce card ought to be and how the promotion should schedule the bouts. It’s no secret that Herschel Walker has been doing a ton of press for Strikeforce and his debut fight, so it really doesn’t make sense to have him compete first on the television portion of the show. But, there’s no possible way to justify him fighting last due to his inexperience and the necessary respect that Strikeforce needs to show to the sport and the other veteran fighters on the card.

The situation is even further complicated by Lashley’s presence. He’s the second most popular fighter on the card, but also has little experience in MMA. Where do you slot his bout in relation to the two title fights and middleweight showdown between two brawlers?

If I’m Strikeforce, I want to do my best to position Walker and Lashley to give as much exposure as possible to what are likely to be the most dynamic fights of the night in Lawler-Manhoef, Diaz-Zaromskis, and Santos-Coenen. I’m sure they’ll play around with the ordering, but Lashley-Sims followed by Santos-Coenen, Walker-Nagy, Lawler-Manhoef, and Diaz-Zarmoskis would achieve that goal.

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Note: Jon Robinson has an interesting interview with Bobby Lashley over at ESPN in which they discuss Strikeforce, MMA, a return to professional wrestling, and more. Interesting read if you have time; one answer in particular is bound to fuel further speculation that he isn’t willing to let go of TNA.