Inside Evo Las Vegas 2025: What brings competitors to the Super Bowl of fighting games

There’s no shortage of things to do at Evo Las Vegas 2025, and its attendees are showing up with all kinds of goals. Some are hoping to make a name for themselves, while others are simply excited to experience the event for the first time. Many are balancing practice with day jobs, but still made the trip to compete and connect with the community. Esports.gg spoke with several attendees to learn what makes Evo so special.

As Mortal Kombat 1 competitors continue to duke it out in a dedicated tournament area in hopes of dethroning Dominique "SonicFox" McLean, esports.gg met Abel "EMPR Menzo" Cervantes Arellano of SRG and Martín "DIO Sama" Arellano-Lara of B.O.B.

EMPR Menzo, who entered six different titles at Evo Las Vegas 2025, told us he's determined to go deep in each bracket. He just played Rain and Tremor in Mortal Kombat 1 and said that although he hadn’t practiced much since CEO, he approached the event with a fresh mindset. He also revealed that he’s a major fan of the franchise.

"Walking in, I went straight for the Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection," he said. "I had to play Trilogy after it was announced. I’m really looking forward to it having rollback." He also shared that he brought a special item with him with Carlos Pesina's signature. Pesina is the original actor behind Raiden.

Meanwhile, DIO Sama returned for his second Evo and competed in both Mortal Kombat 1 and TEKKEN 8. He went 1-1 in his Mortal Kombat 1 pool and wants to climb further. And while TEKKEN 8 has been his main focus in terms of preparation, he still arrived at Evo to simply enjoy the tournament experience.

Elsewhere at the Las Vegas Convention Center, we met Spencer "noproblem" Speakley, who looked ready to duke it out against any opponent. When we asked about his TEKKEN experience, he revealed Evo Las Vegas 2025 as his first-ever Evo tournament despite knowing about the event since 2006. Noproblem also traveled all the way from Houston, TX.

"I've been wanting to come here for years and years, and now was a pretty good time," noproblem said. Finally had [the means to] travel, so that brought me out here after competing off and on for maybe 14 years."

Beyond the competition, noproblem said he'd love to check out the Invincible VS title. He has a particular interest in it because of its connection with TEKKEN player Reepal "Rip" Parbhoo.

Although he hasn’t met many folks he knows from online play yet, noproblem said he's enjoying casual matches and looks forward to making new connections throughout the weekend.

As for the Street Fighter 6 area, we met Kevin "Caliem" Montenegro and Paolo "Thorns" Cornejo. Caliem revealed that he's here for both Street Fighter 6 and TEKKEN 8. He especially wants to do well with Steve in the latter title and see how far he can go playing as A.K.I in Street Fighter 6. Callie also said he practices when he can, often squeezing in about two hours daily around his day job. He added that what keeps him coming back to Evo again and again is the people.

"I really, really like meeting new people," he said. "It's so fun. You can just strike up a conversation with anybody here, and everyone's really receptive. So I just love coming around and talking to new people."

Thorns, meanwhile, simply attended Evo to support his friend and soak in the atmosphere. Also from Southern California, Thorns has been attending Evo for the past few years.

"It's great because we all kind of speak the same language," he said. "So a bunch of times, I'll just sit down next to someone, ask if they can play a game, and they're all down."

That's all for now. Stick around on esports.gg for more news, interviews, and updates from across the fighting game community (FGC)!