PHOTO | UFC 5 covers officially revealed featuring Alexander Volkanovski and Israel Adesanya on deluxe version

The covers for UFC 5 have officially been released.

Last week it was reported that Alexander Volkanovski and Valentina Shevchenko would be on the cover of the regular game. On Tuesday, EA Sports officially revealed the cover and it was Volkanovski and Shevchenko on the cover as expected.

The Great 🤝 The Bullet

Your #UFC5 Standard Edition cover athletes Alexander Volkanovski and Valentina Shevchenko 🤜💥🤛

See the full reveal 9/7
➡️ https://t.co/Buf42tWtjV pic.twitter.com/ddDQPAp4yu

— EA SPORTS UFC (@EASPORTSUFC) September 5, 2023

The cover does look sharp, but some fans were critical of Shevchenko on the cover given she is no longer a UFC champion. Of course, she lost her title to Alexz Grasso back in March, and perhaps the decision for her to be on the cover was made well before then. As well, she will also have the chance to reclaim her belt next weekend at Noche UFC when she gets an immediate rematch against the Mexican Champion.

Alexander Volkanovski, meanwhile, is the featherweight champ and deserves to be on the cover as he is one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the UFC. He is currently 26-2 and coming off a TKO win over Yair Rodriguez to defend his featherweight title. The Australian has defended his belt five times and also fought Islam Makhachev to a very close decision for the lightweight belt earlier this year.

RELATED: Sean Strickland reveals he punched a citizen for running his mouth in Australia.

Adesanya on the cover of the deluxe version of UFC 5

Along with Valentina Shevchenko and Alexander Volkanovski on the cover of the regular UFC 5, Israel Adesanya is back on the cover of the game as well. ‘The Last Stylebender’ was announced as the cover athlete for the deluxe version of the game.

https://twitter.com/EASPORTSUFC/status/1699074682467865072

The cover shows Israel Adesanya with the taunt that he did against Anderson Silva, which is still one of the best pictures of his entire career. Adesanya is set to defend his middleweight title on Saturday night at UFC 293 as he faces Sean Strickland. He reclaimed his belt back in April with a KO win over Alex Pereira in their rematch after losing by fifth-round TKO last year.

UFC 5 is expected to be released on October 27.