I know a lot of people hate to see comparisons drawn between the UFCs business model and that of WWE, but for better or worse they are pretty damned similar (I'm just comparing the business models, not MMA with pro wrasslin).  I think computer games are an area where these comparisons hold particularly true.

Back when I was a fan of WWE I was an avid purchaser and player of all the associated games.  The more I got into the games the more I learned about pro wrestling, eventually going so far as to look up lesser known promotions, learn about obscure moves, and research the history of my favourite sports entertainers beynd the WWE.  The Create-A-Wrestler modes in particular saw me spending long hours creating accurate likenesses of fighters from Ring of Honour and Japanese promotions such as NJPW, and further hours ensuring their stats and movesets were as accurate as I could possibly make them.  Imagine my joy when an AJ Styles pre-prepared moveset found its way into a WWE game.  Yup, I didn't have a girlfriend.

The current crop of MMA games are educating casual and especially young fans on some of the intricacies of the sport, from basic things such as the name of submissions to formulating gameplans for fights and adapting them on the fly to how you deal with victories and defeats.

As I have said I used to play the wrestling games for hours at a time, investing vastly more time than I could spend watching actual pro wrestling, for there was a finite ammount of actual prgramming available.  I'm convinced this will also be the case for many younglings with MMA programing versus time spent MMA gaming.  When EA MMA is released (and I don't think it looks great to be honest but I'll be buying it for Couture and Fedor) it will broaden these fans horizons no end, for it will provide them with a whole roster of non-UFC fighters to research and become fans of, as well as a gateway to promotions they may never have heard of.

Promotions such as Strikeforce and Dream will benefit from this in that these fans will be eager to see the fighters they are controlling fight for real, and the UFC will benefit because fighters outside the UFC will build name recognition by being in these games, making them much easier to market if and when they are signed by the UFC.

Gaming and MMA are now in a symbiotic relationship and the futures bright.