EA Sports have released a trailer for their upcoming MMA game. As expected, the trailer features several short-haired men trying to turn their opponent’s face into something resembling an aubergine, and they appear to be doing a very good job.

Without wanting to review the game based on a trailer, MMA’s gameplay looks like it could be a step up from THQ’s UFC 2009 Undisputed. It has a harder, sharper feel about it. The collision detection looks spot on with hits coming across very weighted.

The trailer features lots of brutal attacks, but we found some of the more satisfying moments came from the more opportunistic moves; like when one fighter swept away the legs of another from a downed position, and we really liked the rather sly foot stomp from one fighter while in a clinch.

EA Sports MMA is being brought to us by EA Tiburon, the team behind the brilliant Tiger Woods PGA Tour and Madden NFL games, so it shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone that the body movements look extremely authentic, EA Sports are masters of this sort of thing after all.

It’s not all about the gameplay, players want to be controlling their favourite fighters. When it comes to rosters, MMA can’t match the quality that UFC has to offer, even with distinguished fighters such as Randy Couture and Fedor Emelianenko on their side.

It’s shaping up to be an interesting tussle between the two franchises. This is one fight we’ll certainly be watching with interest.