I stopped playing (Mirraco136) after the latest tuner that 'broke' the 'in-between' grappling (tds and clinches). Half of the time I sway instead of shooting the other half no matter how great I set up a shot I fail. I was 42-1 pre-tuner that nerfed and broke tds/clinchs three days after I was 62-11. Before you say my 42-1 'was a fluke' or 'good match ups' I was 52-2 season 3 (you can check international) and was 260-40 season two. I played ufc 2 the majority of its cycle and consistently had a 95% win ratio for months.
Moral of the story, you cannot currently pick a khabib or maia to beat a top level GSP or Conor you will not get a td and will get obliterated if you try to stand. For me to win I have to pick strikers and strike, and I prefer to have the option to grapple.
Before someone says your a 'grapple spammer' 'learn to strike' just know you don't get over 90% win ratios consistently by being one-dimensional, chances are I can consistently beat over 96% of the player base standing that's not the issue the issue is grappling and the constant possibility of being smushed on the ground. As well as the 'options' available due to this aspect it is what makes MMA interesting, and hence ufc games fun for close to their whole game cycle.
Geoff you and your team obviously made the changes for a reason and I am sure I know far less than you (behind the scenes) but I preordered the game to play three days early (for $50 NZ) I love the franchise and think ufc 3 is easily the best in the series. (I play it very close to every day, just not on ranked anymore) However, I would appreciate if you would re-consider the harshness of the nerf, please.
Thank you