It's actually even worse then having to pre-deny. Depending on which fighter you use, if you pre-deny under 75-100 milliseconds you still will get caught with the punch even though you had imputed your commands before your opponent imputed the strike thrown. I just can't understand why they think blocking tons of shots is the primary defense in MMA because is down the list after footwork and head movement. It also creates a very unrealistic playstyle and promotes strike spamming. Head movement while blocking doesn't allow you to counter either so they are really trying to keep the striking close to 3 with a stand up rockem sockem robot feel to it. I guess they think more casuals will want to play a rocky game rather then a striking sim.