I was watching this clip from "UFC 2009: Undisputed" and getting excited about how realistic the gameplay footage looks (except for Edith’s breasts, which, let’s be honest, don’t move anywhere near that much), and then Nate Diaz submitted B.J. Penn in the first round and the illusion was shattered.  

Okay, so it’s just a game.  And just like I’ll never steal any cars in real life (though I might ‘borrow’ it just to make a beer run), Nate Diaz will never take B.J. Penn’s back and choke him out with his feet crossed in front of him within two minutes.  It’s a fun little fiction, though.

If you look closely during the gameplay clip, you probably noticed two things: 1) Nick Diaz is not mean-mugging it up in his brother’s corner, and this is a real shame, and 2) there are no shortage of advertisements plastered all over the Octagon.  TapouT, MMA Warehouse, Harley-Davidson, Xyience, etc.  All the UFC’s closest friends get some play in “Undisputed,” and as the guys from MMA Payout have noted, this is worth a little something.  They cite an AdWeek report that estimates in-game advertising will be a $2 billion-a-year business by 2010.  

Since the UFC is making fighters sign over the rights to their video game images in perpetuity or else face the wrath, that’s money that will be going straight into the UFC coffers.  They won’t even have to offer the fighters a split of it when they make a new game in 2011 that brings in even more ad revenue and features Junie Browning going up in weight to knock Georges St. Pierre out cold in thirty seconds.