Back in March, EA Sports boss Peter Moore said that mixed martial arts was the "future of fighting". Now it seems he's putting his development studio where his mouth is...or something.

At EA's E3 press conference, Moore revealed that EA was currently developing a mixed martial arts game. Development is being handled by EA Tiburon, the studio behind the Madden franchise. No platforms were revealed but its release is scheduled for 2010.

EA will actually enter the MMA market as an underdog, a rare position for them in sports gaming. THQ currently owns the license for making Ultimate Fighting Championship games and just released the very well-regarded UFC 2009 Undisputed. THQ's agreement with the UFC doesn't expire until 2011 so EA will have to either use fictional fighters or license some other organization.