Yes reach is definitely a big deal. FNR4 & FNC both had the customization options for reach. With the new locomotion inside and outside fighting is more of a thing now with reach actually meaning more in this game as stated from EA's official site.
https://www.ea.com/games/ufc/ufc-3/n...king-deep-dive
UFC 3 Striking Deep Dive
Range Management
One final way in which range comes into play is when comparing fighters with long reach vs. short reach. Obviously, the longer reach fighter has a bigger range for their strikes as compared to that of the shorter reach fighter. In order to balance this out, we have made the range requirements to hit maximum damage much stricter for the long reach fighter than the short reach fighter. This variance is even more pronounced on short range strikes, where the shorter fighter will naturally shine. This means that even though they can both achieve maximum damage, it is much more difficult to do with the longer reach fighter.
In addition, we have added an execution frame penalty to the longer fighter, to simulate the fact that their longer limbs take more time to reach their target.
The hope is that this balances out tall fighters and short fighters, making them both competitive if used the right way. As always, the best way to understand this is to go into practice mode and experiment with various techniques.
So why not allow us to have control of our reach as we did in Fight Night? Especially if their is a punishment for being too tall and long in reach.
As well FNR2 & FNR3 were the only fighting games I remember that actually showed age progression during career mode. Your hair, facial hair, and body hair would begin to turn white or grey the older your fighter became. This approach will help make things more realistic in the future if you had something like this in the game, as well if you can somehow apply that to roster fighters as well.
Some form of age deformation mechanics would need to be created. But it can be done. I've seen even other games which altered your characters image as days go by such as The Witcher 3.
Great ideas here. Martial Mind already touched on so many things with this video as well as the ones he posted about EA MMA & FNC things that EA can bring to EA UFC.