Outside of fights, the player can make promotional choices to build hype, gain fans, earn more cash through big contracts and capture the world's attention.

The tournament mode offers ultimate rights as the player attempts to take on as many opponents as possible in bracket-style elimination rounds with continuous damage and fatigue.

Along with the initial announcement, a short teaser trailer featuring UFC fighters Demetrious "Mighty Mouse" Johnson, Anderson "The Spider" Silva, and Joanna Jędrzejczyk was also conducted.

[5] Although the use of microtransactions is expected to only affect one game mode, the option for consumers to spend real money to avoid grinding has been derided as exploitative.

Game Informer praised the graphics, saying the "attention to detail is gorgeous, from the way fighters circle each other in the Octagon to the facial animations as an overhand right comes down on their cheek".

GameSpot summarized it as "EA Sports UFC 3 is a tense, exciting, and dynamic recreation of the stand and bang aspect of mixed martial arts.

The grappling still needs plenty of work, and one would hope this is something EA Canada addresses in the next iteration; yet these shortcomings become easier to overlook because of the accomplishment of its redefined striking.