UFC 2009 Undisputed:: You aren't good at building fighters.Creating a Superior Fighter with a Rating of Well Over 100

Competition online has gotten online, and Xbox Live & PS3 gamers alike have felt the effect of the game having sold over well 200,000 units within its first week alone.

As this happens, more people are having more and more time to exploit glitches and and take advantage of flaws in the game's freshman attempt at a balanced training system. Some have suggested changes along the lines of the ones seen between the early EA Fight Night titles, and what will eventually be Fight Night Round 4. However, this franchise hasn't had multiple platforms and multiple years over which to build. In a debuting effort, it did alright.

Still, we'd like to think we're doing alright a week or so in.

"Forget Fedor.... Prepare For _____________!!!!!!"

Everyone gets one chance to screw it up, and in this case, that was probably the fighter you're using now. Unless you've gotten his overall rating to over 95, begin the emotional process of disconnection now. It's over, and however it went, it's going to go better with the next one you build. Besides, now you can make him look more like yourself, and less like a squatty Hispanic.

(Maybe the squatty Hispanic thing was just me.)

Start Out Strong

Firstly, anyone who told you that you earned more points for upping the difficulty level was lying to you, and wanted to see you suffer. They got what they wanted. Now, you're going to go back with your newly created super-beast of a fighter, and you're going to make them put this game down forever.

Secondly, until your sparring partner has reached level 3, forget about sparring. It's a waste of time, and will result in, at best, a yield of 30 sparring points per session in the early-going. Meanwhile, working your statistics will only marginally yield more than it does in the early-going later on, so the gain here is worth the time spent.

To round out our three early tactics, your focus should immediately be on Cardio and Speed, until your statistics in each reach around 70. At this point, start building your strength. Using a blend of technical escapes on the ground (rotating the right analog stick during an escape attempt, rather than mashing the buttons) and tactical striking, I've been able to take my fighters repeatedly through undefeated runs.

Forget About Boxing

If you're the type who likes to go into a gunfight with a butter knife, go with Boxing as your technical striking style. What better way to give yourself no option but a few wild, winging punches from a distance as your opponent drops concussive head-kicks on your golden boy. You don't get to clinch and knee him, your low kicks are slow and sloppy, and you don't get a high kick AT ALL. If you're up to the task of going into battle with an expansive half-arsenal, more power to you. I'll be waiting on Xbox Live to head-kick you, too.

Kickboxing and Muay Thai are your only realistic options, as they afford a diversity of options for striking that are granted to your fighter as you train. And while we're on the subject of training, you must do so, and do so with purpose. Anything less than five accomplishments per training session is a bust. Do not settle.

Get Paid

By the time you've fought your way past your first fight, you will have the option to plaster sponsorship logos all over your shorts. Do so at the first opportunity. By now, you've created a fighter, so you've probably already got the THQ (50 Cred) sponsorship unlocked. This can be plastered on your shorts to a tune of 10 times, equaling an extra 500 Cred on top of your earned fight dollars. Once you start earning higher paying sponsors, their higher-paying logos can replace this one.

One way of going about earning those sponsors is consecutive training sessions in any given camp once the invites to train start coming in.

Train in Excellence

Take every advantage to hit the reset button on a botched sparring session or training session, because you're not earning anything from anyone by accepting failure with a created fighter in career mode. You're asking for a beating, rather, by the guy who didn't when you did.

Once the Camp Invites start coming in, pick a gym and stick with them until they offer you sponsorship. A gym sponsorship pays 80 Cred. Depending on the mode, this can happen anywhere between three and five times consecutively training with that team. This will directly correlate with your fighter's furthered progress, because higher sponsorship dollars means better equipment, better sparring partners in a quicker timeframe, and a better fighter by that fighter's career end.

In the case of Ballzsak Hojak, my created Welterweight, I stuck with 10th Planet Jiu-Jitsu out of respect for highly-respected grappling veteran Eddie Bravo. Due to the whole "Pluto" situation, the chance to plaster a 10th Planet logo huge on the front of my Vale Tudo shorts was an opportunity to name the 9th and 10th planets after the testicles of the mighty Ballzsak. With those testicles, mad face is kicked.

Summed up so far:

1) Plaster your shorts with the highest paying logo you have at your first fighting chance to do so
2) Do not start sparring in training between fights until your sparring partner is Level 3
3) Focus strictly on balancing Speed and Cardio up to 70 each before building strength for ease in training
4) Do not settle for botched training sessions: Meet at least five objectives per session, or reset without saving

We good on that? Excellent. Onward.

Train in Excellence

Once you've begun sparring to earn sparring points, your strategy will be determined by the fighter you've planned to fight, so in the early going, be humble. Go for the biggest purses only if you're confident you can win. In training, know that your oncoming opponent's skill level will correlate directly with the difficulty of your sessions, and don't be afraid to lose once or twice to keep your opponent level reasonable.

There's only one accomplishment to be unlocked for both going undefeated, and winning the belt in every class. Besides, you're not earning your pride against the computer. You're getting ready to go beat on real, live scrubs.

Over a five-week training schedule, your routine by the time you've reached a Cardio stat of 70 (here's why it's important that you achieve this QUICKLY) should look something like this, considering a starting Stamina of 100%:

Week 1: Spar: Stamina drops to 65%
Week 2: Spar: Stamina drops to 30%
Week 3: Rest: Stamina raises to 80%
Week 4: Spar: Stamina drops to 45%
Week 5: Rest: Stamina raises to 95%

Given this schedule, you will train three times with the maximum multiplier for health, while getting an extra week of training in under the radar of the normal schedule. At this point, the only thing interfering with your schedule should be Camp Invites.

Sparring Strategy

Your best tactic here is to keep your distance, find your range, and lay into your opponent with a variation of leg-kicks, body-kicks, then head-kicks.... in that order if possible. Open with a combination in that sequence. Switch to two leg kicks, then two body kicks. Then throw two head kicks. Then go legs, then go head. Repeat similar and unsynchronized combinations to keep your dummy opponent thrown off and eating bombs.

Bigger bonuses are awarded for rocking your opponent, knocking your opponent down, and overwhelming him with comparative damage dished out. Keep your defense up. Do not settle for eating clinch bombs, don't stand and trade, and keep your attacks ranged and varying. If you're not scoring anywhere from 100 to 144 sparring points per session by the time your sparring partner has reached Level 3, you've failed. Consider the 72 you'll take in one session next to the 144 someone just earned in one. Lopsided, right?

Stat Distribution

Your most devastating strikes will be your kicks, given the strategy you're employing. Therefore, build these up alongside every single defensive statistic possible: primarily, Clinch Striking Defense, Clinch Grappling Defense, Submission Defense and Striking Defenses of both varieties. These decrease the potential for an opponent to flash-finish you, most obviously.

You Do Not Age Like Wine

Therefore, no Photo Shoots, no Autograph Sessions, and forget Dana White asking you to take fights outside of your schedule. You pay no penalty for sticking to the script, and stand to earn more if you stick to the program you anticipate. Appearances and distractions only lend to the possibility of your fighter not maximizing his potential.

Within nine training sessions for each martial art (eighteen total), you should have reached level three in each style. This is eighteen weeks out of a 52 week year that comes along once every-other month, so if you fail here, the setback to your fighter's potential is devastating. Anything less than five accomplishments per Camp Invite, and again I reiterate this due to its importance, is unacceptable and should result in a reset. It may take a bit longer to build your terminator of a fighter, but it's an attention to detail worth paying.

Provided you stick to the script, your fighter will have another handful of chances before he retires to maximize these statistics. Though you will not see the statistical bonuses that each advancement in a martial arts claims to grant you when you're distributing your sparring points, back out of the Calendar menu and check out the Status menu, and you'll see your fighter's statistics with bonuses inclusive.

Still 21 After Year 7

One significant flaw in the game is that the fighters don't seem to age numerically, but without a doubt, they age almost instantly once you retire them through the course of a career. Therefore, if at all possible, either refrain completely from your last dual in the octagon, or disable auto-save in preparation of not overwriting the original save after you've beaten the game with your created fighter (real pain). This way, your fighter forever stays in their prime.

At any weight-class, your fighter has just a little over 30 fights to make his mark in imaginary video game MMA history. Even at a remarkable 32-0, Ballzsak Hojak was told that the commission would deny him another year of laying down asswhoopings on everyone ever. As soon as he retired, instant statistical drops in areas such as Striking Offense and Standing Kick Offense were immediately noticeable.

Off You Go...

With this, you should have everything you need to build your fighter up as quickly and as ruthlessly as possible, with all the perks and promise of a fighter with ridiculously high stats in a game where you'll have people thinking you somehow cheated to get your stats so high. When they search the internet and find no cheat codes yet exist on this scale for this game, they'll feel even better about themselves.

Have fun. =)