MMA meets Street Fighter: Promotion introduces on-screen ‘health bars’

Ever watched MMA and thought, man I wish this was more like an arcade beat ‘em up? If so, Bally’s Fight Night has you covered.

The Golden Boy Promotions owned Bally’s put on a show in Long Beach, CA last Wednesday and with it they debuted ‘health bars’ reminiscent of video games like Street Fighter and Tekken.

Thanks to MMA gif clipping veterans Streetfight Bancho and Caposa you can see how this all looked below:

Twitter users complained that the lag between the action and the health bars being depleted was more distracting than awesome. So we’re left guessing whether this overlay will remain a fixture of Bally’s Fight Night or whether it will be immediately ditched. No matter what, though, kudos for trying something new.

Augmented reality is not a new thing in sports, though. And it’s not always been successful.

In 1996 Fox Sports believed their American audience needed help keeping track of fast-paced NHL games. So they introduced the ‘glowing puck’.

The glowing puck is viewed, especially by Canadians, as one of the most embarrassing TV sports blunders of all time. But maybe Fox Sports was just too ahead of the times. Perhaps at the next Bally’s Fight Night we’ll see some glowing fists?