UFC 5 striking is horrible

Used to play 4 and would get KO's/TKO's online all the time. Then i got 5 when it came out on PS+ and dear God do I hate what they did to the striking. I can't seem to throw strikes or combinations as fast as my opponents no matter how much stamina I have or how fast I press the buttons. My guy always ends up throwing giant looping hooks when I try to do quick 1/2 combos and I get KO'd every time. And yes, I've used fighters with high strike speed and footwork stats, still nothing.

Block break spamming is the biggest bullshit I've ever seen. Absolutely ridiculous how a dude can drain his stamina bar spamming hooks and uppercuts at me but still knock me out just because my block bar is down.

Inb4 "sKiLL iSSue". Obviously it's a skill issue, just don't know what the fuck I'm doing wrong. And yes, of course I'm gonna keep playing the game and try to get better, but goddammit I'm still gonna bitch about this. Bring UFC 2 striking back. End of rant, thanks for coming to my Ted Talk.