MenaRD, the SF6 Evo Japan 2025 Champion: “The journey has been a tough one”

The last really big adjustment to the game mechanics arrived to Street Fighter 6 around a year ago. We got Recover Drive Reversal. Since then, new characters joined the game, and meta changes shook the balance — but not too drastically.

In general, it’s the same game as it was after the release. For competitive purposes, this is a good thing, as players have had more than enough time to elaborate clever approaches and coin tricky combos. In this regard, Evo Japan 2025 features an absolutely amazing SF6 competition!

This stability is about to change. Capcom promises a huge update around the addition of Elena to the Street Fighter 6 playable roster. Some basic universal mechanics should become richer or just different.

The fighting games community (FGC) is thrilled to witness the amazing SF6 esports show at Evo Japan 2025. It’s a chance to enjoy the game in its perfection, powered by the best players from all over the world.

In a way, Street Fighter 6 is the main title at Evo Japan 2025. This tournament concluded the fighting games esports event. The SF6 stream is right after TEKKEN 8.

The stakes at this tournament are super high. The Capcom Pro Tour 2025 starts here, and Evo Japan 2025 is a Premier-tier qualifier. The winner advances directly to Capcom Cup 12. The rest of the top players earn significant portions of standing points.

Moreover, this event is a qualifier for the Street Fighter 6 Esports World Cup 2025. Two top placements guarantee an invite to the finals event.

The top 8 matchups and results are in the table below. Similarly to SF6 Evo Japan 2024, MenaRD is in the upper brackets — is this a start of the back-to-back victory?

History repeated itself at Evo Japan 2025 — with some changes compared to the SF6 tournament from last year. MenaRD did not play Luke this time, but he took Zangief in the winners final. That character swap did not work for the guy, so MenaRD returned to his usual Blanka. He electrified everyone with the wild dude!

The opponents for MenaRD were somewhat different. The Capcom Cup 11 Champion, Kakeru, did not reach the top 8. But Ryukichi managed to make it to the grand final and play vs MenaRD twice. The matches were really competitive, but the Bull did not miss on such an opportunity.

MenaRD is the back-to-back Street Fighter 6 Evo Japan Champion!

MenaRD and Ryukichi qualified for the Street Fighter 6 Esports World Cup 2025. The SF6 Evo Japan winner, MenaRD, advances to the Capcom Cup 12.

Capcom has already revealed most information about the next DLC character. Elena joins Street Fighter 6 on June 5, alongside the Nintendo Switch 2 version release. The gameplay trailer explains what Elena is capable of.

The only thing that remains is the official character guide. Usually, these videos drop close to the release date.

The official Street Fighter 6 esports circuit features a few Premier-tier qualifiers, and Evo Japan 2025 starts this series. In addition to the tournament winners, the top 6 players from the global leaderboard advance to the Capcom Cup 12.

Here is the CPT 2025 leaderboard after Evo Japan 2025.

The Capcom Pro Tour 2025 esports series has a busy schedule, and the next SF6 Premier qualifier is at Combo Breaker 2025: from May 23 to May 25.

For all Street Fighter 6 news and updates, stick around on esports.gg.