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EA has been busy showing off the progress they’ve made on their upcoming EA Sports MMA title at the Game Developers Conference. Here’s a quick rundown of the latest details.

• Total Strike Control: Similar to Fight Night Round 4, the game’s entire striking system will be controlled by the right analog stick, but for those of us who aren’t in love with that idea, the striking controls can be remapped to the controller’s face buttons.
• Controller’s rumble technology will be used to tip off player when opponent is preparing to attempt grappling transition
• Three separate health meters for head, torso and legs with appropriate damage modeling, won’t be seen in the HUD
• Stamina meter which replenishes itself, max stamina will gradually decrease as the fight wears on, will be seen in the HUD
• Hexagon and circle cages and  square rings will be featured as seen in the latest batch of screenshots
• Three rule set options: Unified rules, Strikeforce rules (no elbows on the ground), Japanese rules (foot stomps!)
• Flashy ring entrances complete with their own music and walk down the ramp
• Primary attributes: stand up, clinch, ground, submission, and health, focus on one specific fight style
• Unique fighter specific fighting stances and styles as seen with Nick Diaz and Cung Le in the latest screenshots
• Jimmy Lennon Jr. ring announcer, Big John McCarthy referee

If you missed it, here’s the latest batch of screenshots and an interview with EA Sports MMA’s Randy Chase.

EA’s Randy Chase talks to Gamespot about their upcoming EA Sports MMA title due out later this year. I’m not gonna lie, I missed half the interview because I was staring at the TV in the background with the fighter selection screen hoping a fight with Nick Diaz and Cung Le would break out. Sadly, it didn’t but I’m guessing we’ll be seeing footage of that soon. I did catch Chase confirm there will be a Japanese rule set to choose from (hopefully he meant PRIDE rules!) at the end though so at least I’m not completely worthless.

The EA Sports MMA team has released a bunch of sweet new screenshots for their upcoming title. For the first time you’ll see Nick Diaz, Cung Le and Scott Smith with their signature fighting styles along the different venues and a quick look at Bobby Lashley’s ring entrance. We should be getting some new gameplay footage soon too so keep your eyes peeled for that.

Check out more pics at the official EA Sports MMA website.

EA, which is a very well known company and who makes big sports games, they couldn’t get our license. They were not fans of the UFC, they were not fans of mixed-martial arts–and they decided to change their business plan and became a “me-too” company and create a “me too” fighter. They couldn’t get what they really wanted, so they tried to create a game that would compete with us. We have a lot of respect for them, but there’s nothing in that game that would entice me or anyone I know that’s an MMA fan to buy it. If you want stars, the best organization, the best graphics, you’re going to stick with what you bought last year because this year’s game is even better. And the fact that we didn’t cheat or cut corners in 2010, I think our fans are going to be very happy.

—THQ Executive VP Don Gold, in an interview with Gamespot, claiming EA Sports MMA can’t compete with UFC Undisputed 2010

Actually, there’s a quite a bit in EA Sports MMA to entice any MMA fan/gamer to buy it. If you have the money, there’s no reason why you can’t purchase both. Plus, Undisputed 2010 comes out several months before EA Sports MMA, so after running through the career mode several times and beating up your friends online all summer in Undisputed, you’ll probably be ready for something new anyways.

Gegard Mousasi, Cung Le, Josh Thomson, Gilbert Melendez and Tyrone Woodley got the opportunity to check out EA Sports MMA in Miami at the Madden Bowl. Jacare talks about the game after the jump.

If Ken Shamrock vs. Frank Shamrock is a fight you still want to see, you may just get the chance…in the virtual world at least. According to Around the Octagon, Shamrock says he’ll be in EA Sports MMA.

ATO caught up with Ken Shamrock last night and he confirmed that he will be appearing in the new EA Sports MMA video game that will be out later this year.

The addition of Shamrock alone to the roster might not be the most exciting news in the world, but could it mean EA is including other MMA legends and pioneers? I don’t know, but I’d love nothing more than to kick some serious ass as Bas Rutten or choke someone out as Royce Gracie. It’s a smart move I hope EA is making.

Bas Rutten vs. Alistair Overeem or Royce Gracie vs. Jake Shields, anyone?

Image via Sherdog. Tip via MMA Supremacy.

As you can see Brock Lesnar will grace the cover of UFC Undisputed 2010 which is due out in stores on May 25. Gamespot.com did a Q&A with one of the game’s designers you should definitely check out. He talks about some of the new features to expect in the game including improved fighting techniques and submission system, cage gameplay, the addition of fight camps in career mode where you can focus on improving individual techniques (ie. guillotine choke), enhanced career mode, unique assignable moves and styles for fighters, online fight camps and additional single-player modes. Definitely sounds like a major improvement over Undisputed 2009.

As for EA Sports MMA, they just announced another major signing — Dan Henderson. No word if Hendo will appear in Undisputed 2010, but it’s probably safe to say he won’t. Tyrone Woodley was also announced.

It’s going to be very interesting how these two games stack up when they’re released later this year. Can’t wait.

Middle Easy brings us a new EA Sports MMA scan from the latest issue of Playstation Magazine. It gives us our first look at Gegard Mousasi…I think. At least the caption says it’s him. They might want to do a little more work on that one.

The scan also confirms Vladimir Matyushenko will be in the game which is surprising considering he’s currently under contract with the UFC.