Interview with Arslan Ash at Evo 2025: “It’s more about creating my own legacy because I have accomplished a lot.”

Evo Las Vegas 2025 brings together the finest in the fighting game community (FGC) as legends clash and new chapters unfold. Among those continuing to shape the FGC is none other than Arslan "Arslan Ash" Siddique. A five-time Evo champion, he sat down with esports.gg to talk about his journey from the arcades of Lahore to the global stage and how Red Bull and the Pakistan's FGC motivate him to do his best.

In his interview with esports.gg, Arslan Ash said that Evo is always exciting and feels like a must-attend event for the FGC. The competition keeps getting tougher each year as more players are drawn in by Evo itself, the Esports World Cup (EWC), and even the TEKKEN World Tour (TWT). Already a five-time Evo champion at the time of our interview, he said his focus now is on building a lasting legacy and continuing to bring home the gold.

"I'm really wanting to win this one this year at Evo. For me, it's more about creating my own legacy because I have accomplished a lot. Mashallah," Arslan Ash said, emphasizing that he's very grateful. "But that's not the end. I want to win more."

The player also shared his thoughts on the TEKKEN 8 competition at Evo Las Vegas 2025. He believes the game is moving in the right direction with ongoing patches, though improvements could arrive faster. The current patch still has some imbalances and frustrating moments as well, but it's a good improvement over, for example, the update that prompted the Season 2 emergency patch.

Last year, in another interview with esports.gg, Arslan Ash revealed how prior to being sponsored by Red Bull, he had a tough experience at his first-ever Evo. This involved shifty accommodations and food poisoning. Since joining Red Bull, however, everything has become much easier. The brand supports its players by handling visas, providing equipment, and offering dedicated facilities that promote their mental and physical well-being.

The player then shared how he joined Red Bull in the first place. After winning Evo Japan, he received a message about a sponsorship opportunity and met with the Red Bull team in Islamabad. Red Bull Pakistan and Red Bull Dubai later took his case to the global headquarters.

"I've always wanted to become a Red Bull athlete," Arslan Ash said. "So after winning Evo Japan, I got a message from a guy. He said, 'I want to talk to you about an opportunity.' I was like, 'It can't be true. I think I'm going to do the interview, I'm going to have a chat with them, and nothing will happen.' So we met in Islamabad. I was applying for my U.S. visa at that time, and it got approved. [Then] I met him again and he said the same thing."

Arslan Ash continued, "I didn't take him seriously, but deep inside me, I was so happy. I wished it would come true. I heard that Red Bull Pakistan took my case to the Red Bull global headquarters, and then it got Red Bull Dubai. They took my case and got it approved. I was so happy."

In our conversations with other TEKKEN 8 players from Pakistan, we learned that a lot of them attend Arslan Ash's boot camps in Lahore. These offline sessions are great because they allow players to learn from each other. However, what happens at these boot camps?

"We play cards!" Arslan Ash joked before describing them in earnest. "So imagine the boot camp is like the size of this, right?" he said, referring to our interview room at Evo 2025. "So we have multiple setups, we stream, we play offline, we invite a lot of players. We have 80% of the players that live in Lahore. It's like a small city, and everyone lives closer to each other, maybe maximum [a] 40 minutes drive or 30 minutes drive. So we call different players every day, and we all play together. I play with them for eight hours, nine hours, six hours."

He continued, "And I think offline is such a nice thing. Offline TEKKEN is such a nice thing to have because you play with each other, and then after playing, you share things, you watch, and then you sit back. We have coaches, and you watch them play, ask them for advice. It is such a nice environment to grow as a TEKKEN player as compared to online."

The player then recalled that when he started competing in TEKKEN 7, the game felt balanced and the local scene was just beginning to grow. Back then, most people in Pakistan didn’t know about the franchise. Arslan Ash's victories over time, however, helped TEKKEN become one of the country’s most popular titles, perhaps rivaling even cricket and PUBG. Now, local tournaments regularly get over 300 players. This kind of turnout is larger than some TWT Challenger events in Europe.

As for parting words, Arslan Ash talked about the differences between offline and online play. Each of them serves a different purpose.

"If you want to compete, offline is really good, but if you want to learn matchups, online is very good," he said.

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