While real world sports and video games were once thought of as belonging to completely separate groups of people, this has long since been dispelled as myth. This is true even for those in the UFC, the only competition at which Dr. Disrespect broke character.
As an example, current middleweight champion Robert Whittaker is a big fan of Skyrim, a ten-year-old game that is still enormously popular. What makes him a bit more unique, beyond his fighting skills, is the fact that he has the opportunity to get more into Skyrim than other players.
Whittaker will be appearing in an upcoming mod for Skyrim as a fully voiced NPC. At first brush, this may sound like something made with painstakingly gathered voice lines and interview audio by a dedicated fan, but the truth is almost stranger than that. This mod is semi-official, in that it was made under contract for Bethesda by professional modder Virginia ‘Steelfeathers’ Smith. Whittaker was on board as well, already being a brand ambassador for Bethesda in Australia and New Zealand. So when players fight their way across a winter wonderland Skyrim with Whittaker, it’s as close to the real deal as possible.
It’s not just his appearance and voice that will be close to the real thing either. Rather than going around with high-end equipment or powerful spells, Whittaker’s companion fights foes using his bare fists. He will also have a unique fighting style, presumably based on his actual techniques used in the ring. In any other game it is debatable how useful these would be against vampires, giants, and dragons, but having overpowered fists has been viable in Skyrim since day one. If properly effective, Whittaker will likely join the ranks of the best improved NPC mods in Skyrim.
This is certainly a good cross-promotion by Bethesda, as it may introduce a host of players to Whittaker’s career and perhaps to UFC as a whole, and if not, will still be a lot of fun. It’s nice to see Bethesda contribute to Skyrim this way, especially after removing a bug-fixing mod for Skyrim earlier.
How powerful Whittaker’s fists are in-game remains to be seen, as does how powerful and potentially game-breaking his fighting style is. He may not make it into the official Skyrim speedrun, but perhaps he will appear in a subcategory.
Skyrim: Anniversary Edition is currently available on PC, Playstation 4, Playstation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
Source: IGN
