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The biggest fighting game tournament in the world happened this weekend and these guys came out on top.
Some of the best of the best to ever play fighting games showed up this Evo Japan 2026 and boy did they come out swinging. With pride and spots to the 2026 Esports World Cup on the line, everyone left nothing off the table.
With 12 main tournaments, even more side tournaments, spread across three days, there was a lot to keep up with. But throughout all that, these four rose above the rest to truly distinguish themselves in their own tournaments.
Eisuke Yamaguchi – Street Fighter 6
To say that Street Fighter 6 is a massive phenomena in Japan would be an understatement. In fact, it just broke its own record as the largest single fighting game tournament in history. It previously held that record in 2023, the year it was released, in Evo Vegas with 7,083 participants. Now, a single island nation blew past that record with 7,168.
And standing above them all is Japan’s very own, Yamaguchi. A veteran who’s competed since the Street Fighter 5 days, Yamaguchi is finally at the pinnacle after proving himself against America’s best, Victor “Punk” Woodley.
Kin “iKARi” Min-kyu – Tekken 8
The next generation of fighting game pros are certainly something, as proven by iKARi’s victory in Evo Japan 2026. With Tekken 8 being his first competitive fighting game, the South Korean upstart faced stiff competition. He had to take down Pakistan’s Hafiz Tanveer and EWC 2025 champion Lim “Ulsan” Soo-hoon to get to grand finals. And his final opponent was none other than Tekken legend Bae “Knee” Jae-min.
At first, it looked like Knee’s veterancy and experience were getting the better of iKARi. Knee was able to quickly bring iKARi down to losers 3-1 before the tables were turned against him in the reset. It was a stunning victory for young talent and we’re excited to see where he takes it from here.
Zeng “Xiaohai” Zhoujun – Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves
Fatal Fury had a result that everyone expected but is no less impressive. Xiaohai continues his domination of SNK fighting games and Evo Japan 2026 was no different.
What made the Fatal Fury interesting however was how diverse its top eight competitors were. Taiwan’s Tseng “ZJZ” Chia-chen, South Korea’s Lee “Poongko” Chung-gon, and even Christopher “NYChrisG” Gonzalez all the way from America, came over to compete. Just goes to show that there’re killer players all over the globe.
Tyurara – Guilty Gear Strive
Last but not least is one of Japan’s most prolific fighting game competitors taking the Guilty Gear Strive trophy. Tyurara has been known to join in multiple tournaments of different games but it seems it was Guilty Gear’s year for him.
His clash for the trophy was an epic one too as he faced last year’s winner, Kim “Daru_I-No” Jae-won. Daru_I-No was making an absolutely heroic run through the loser’s bracket, sweeping most of the competition 3-0. Unfortunately for him, Tyurara was on point this tournament and took his crown 3-1.
Banner image from Evo on X.