In the span of 13 seconds, Conor McGregor did more than just unify the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) featherweight championship, as he also secured his spot on the cover of "UFC 2."
Prior to McGregor coming out victorious, EA Sports had already released a version of the cover that featured only UFC women's bantamweight contender Ronda Rousey along with a blank figure that indicated that there would be another fighter set to join her, iDigital Times reported.
In the lead-up to the UFC 194 main event pitting McGregor against Jose Aldo, EA then announced that whoever emerged victorious between Aldo and McGregor would land the spot alongside Rousey on the cover of "UFC 2."
Despite the prestige of being the cover athlete for what will be a widely distributed video game, the honor had been viewed as having a potential downside thanks to what had been known as the "Madden Curse."
The curse was believed to have affected the careers of some notable athletes in the past, especially those who appeared on the front of games from another popular EA franchise, with those being the "Madden NFL" titles, and now, some fear that it may also have affected UFC fighters.
As Techno Buffalo points out, the cover stars of the most recently released UFC game, Jon Jones and Alexander Gustafsson, have had troubles of their own since the game was launched. Rousey herself had endured her own devastating defeat ahead of her being announced as one of the cover athletes for "UFC 2."
Time will tell if McGregor will endure a loss of his own.
Curse or not, "UFC 2," complete with its two cover stars, is expected to make its debut in the spring of 2016, although EA has yet to provide an official release date.
EA has also teased more features being made available for "UFC 2" when it is officially launched.
