Combat sports games like Boxing, MMA, and even wrestling fall into the fighting genre but offer something more than regular fighting games like Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat. The combat sports games offer players a chance to make a comeback and regain momentum if they are losing. Fighters can target body parts, focus on weak points, and utilize strategies.

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Thanks to the rising popularity of the UFC, fight fans have boxing and MMA games to play, and wrestling fans have the WWE 2K, Fire Pro, and AEW Fight Forever games. This list focuses primarily on combat games based on fighting rather than entertainment like wrestling. However, there's still a wrestling title that makes the list. Combat sports fans will find something to please their thirst for in-ring action.

6 EA's UFC 5

The Best MMA Effort From EA Sports Yet

UFC 5 is EA's latest effort in their official UFC series. It has the best visuals of any combat sports game and is a definite improvement over its predecessors. The movement is fluid, punches and kicks land with satisfying impact, and the damage mechanics are excellent. However, fans are divided on the ground game - which has always been EA's UFC worst feature - and the meta hasn't changed since the first game launched in 2014.

Stand-up fights devolve into who breaks their opponent's block first, so their punches and kicks become unblockable. The meta favors players who land the same three or four-hit combos and pressure fighting, irrespective of guarding and head movement. As soon as one fighter gets the upper hand with head or body damage, it's almost impossible for the opponent to make a comeback. Of course, there are some excellent players out there who learn how to counter these attacks by putting hours and hours of practice into the training mode, but for everyone else, it sucks the fun out game. Moreover, the offline and online career modes are terrible, and beyond the repetition of online and local multiplayer, UFC 5 lacks replayability.

5 Undisputed

A Terrific Boxing Title In Early Development

• Released: 2023 Early Access
• Developer: Steel City Interactive
• Platform: PC Steam

Since EA appears to have abandoned the Fight Night series in favor of the UFC games, there hasn't been much to get excited about for boxing fans. Steel City Interactive looks to fill that void with the boxing title Undisputed.

The game is still in Early Access on Steam, so it lacks a career mode and customization. However, the studio is always busy adding new fighters, arenas, and updates to the gameplay. Facial damage has improved, the AI is challenging but rarely cheap, the animation is fluid, and the graphics excellent. With a roster of current stars and legends Muhammed Ali, Rocky Marciano, Joe Calzaghe, Sugar Ray Robinson, and many more, Undisputed is on its way to becoming the best boxing game ever. Console releases are planned when the game is complete, but the Undisputed runs well on Steam Deck with the correct settings.

4 Fire Pro Wrestling World

A Great Wrestling Title With A Solid MMA Mode

The Fire Pro Wrestling series is often credited as being the most complete wrestling sims available for fans. They offer rewarding back-and-forth matches that punish players for trying to hit or spam big moves too early, forcing a level of strategy, reversals, and comebacks not available in the WWE 2K series.

This aspect of the gameplay extends to its mixed martial arts mode, where wrestlers and MMA fighters can fight in the Dodecagon cage - similar to UFC's Octagon - in MMA rules fights. Players can also use a standard ring and fight in Pride-style combat matches. The mechanics are nowhere near as complex as the UFC games, but they are fun, and getting reversals upon reversals and counters in back-forth fights is what the UFC games lack.

3 Greatest Heavyweights

A 16-Bit Classic With An Incredible Roster Of Boxing Legends

• Released: 1993
• Developer: Sega
• Platform: Sega Genesis/Megadrive

More than thirty years later, Sega's Greatest Heavyweights is still among the best boxing titles ever. Building upon the same engine that powered Evander Holyfield's Real Deal Boxing, Greatest Heavyweights features legends like Jack Dempsey, Rocky Marciano, Muhammad Ali, Larry Holmes, Evander Holyfield, and more.

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The fights in Greatest Heavyweights are still satisfying when the big shots and land facial damage become noticeable. There are health meters for the body and head, and fights can go the distance in close back-and-forth matches.

2 Fight Night: Champion

Still The Best Modern Boxing Game Available

• Released: 2011
• Developer: EA
• Platform: iOS, PS3, and Xbox 360

Fight Night: Champion still reigns as the best modern boxing game available. The graphics are incredible for a game over a decade old, and it runs better than ever on the Xbox Series consoles, thanks to enhanced backward compatibility. In addition to a standard career mode, Fight Night: Champion has an outstanding cinematic story mode to keep fighting and movie fans happy from start to finish.

The combat is fluid with head movement, and combos are easy to pull off, thanks to the L-stick for attacking, defending, and countering. Online play is still supported, but it's too easy for players to get away with landing headbutts and punches below the belt to cause massive damage. The fouling player will get warnings and stop short of being disqualified to finish their opponents off. Luckily, the offline mode is good enough to keep players interested.

1 UFC: Undisputed 3

The Undisputed King Of MMA Fighting Games

Fans of UFC fighting games still feel that UFC Undisputed 3, from former WWE 2K developers Yukes, is the best MMA game available. It features an excellent roster of fighters and legends in their prime, like Anderson Silva and Shogun Rua. While the stand-up fighting is more robotic than EA's UFC series, the ground game is much better and fairer than EA's efforts.

Moreover, it features a Pride Mode in addition to regular UFC matches. Pride was the more brutal Japanese counterpart to the UFC. It featured now illegal moves, like stamping and kicks to the head on grounded opponents and more. All of these features are implemented into Undisputed 3's Pride modes. The career modes are more fun, and there is enough content to keep players returning to dust off their PS3s and Xbox 360s to play it many years later.

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