EA Sports last released a UFC game in the autumn of 2020 - UFC 4 - so a new outing is somewhat overdue.

However, you'll likely have to wait a bit longer as there's no sign of one in 2022. Instead, rumours and a leaked email point to next year for a further sequel in the mixed martial arts series.

Here's everything we know so far about EA Sports UFC 5.

 EA Sports UFC 5 release date

It was previously thought that the development of the UFC series of games, EA Vancouver, had switched their undivided attention to a reboot of the Fight Night boxing games. That meant a UFC 5 would have wait longer still.

However, renowned games writer Tom Henderson revealed on Twitter that the team has hit the pause button on Fight Night to turn its attention back to the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

In addition, he claimed to have heard that the game will release in the summer of 2023.

Of course, this is just speculation at present but it does make sense, especially given the gap between games will have hit three years by then. And, it is highly likely that there is a time limit on the licence EA holds with the UFC.

EA Sports UFC 5 rumours

In addition to Henderson's claims above, VGC reportedly saw an internal email sent to staff at EA Canada that references UFC 5 and the decision to suspend development on Fight Night: "We're very excited about UFC 5 and… we want to eliminate the split focus that several members of our leadership team have had over the past while so we can solely focus on delivering migration and UFC 5 at high quality," it allegedly said.

Fight Night development will continue after UFC 5 is finished.

EA Sports UFC 5 platforms

Considering the game is far from official yet, we don't know what platforms it will be released for. However, as it is not expected until at least 2023 we wouldn't be surprised if EA decides to focus on the current-generation formats only. So that'll be PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC.

We'll update with more rumours and any concrete details as they emerge.