The Korean player emerged victorious after four intense days of competition. In the Groups and playoffs, ULSAN defeated mighty opponents, such as the Evo 2025 Champion, Arslan Ash, and the TWT 2024 winner, Rangchu.
Throughout this competitive season, ULSAN got somewhat less notable on the top TEKKEN 8 scene. Compared to 2024, he participated in fewer tournaments and therefore did not reach too many top placements. As the Champion from the TEKKEN 8 Esports World Cup 2024, ULSAN was still considered one of the favorites at EWC 2025 — and for good reason.
In the First Phase of this event, DN Freecs | ULSAN got in the group with the legendary JDCR and the current TEKKEN World Tour Champion, Rangchu. The matches were close, but ULSAN won them and advanced to the Second Phase.
His next challenge was Feng of kkokkoma, who sent ULSAN to the losers. No missteps were allowed, and ULSAN had no choice but to defeat Arslan Ash himself — and eliminate kkokkoma.
In the playoffs of the TEKKEN 8 EWC 2025, ULSAN strongly dominated all his matches: against PINYA, CBM, and LowHigh. It feels like long battles of the first-to-five (Ft5) format suits his style well, as with all 5:2s in his favor, ULSAN wins the TEKKEN 8 Esports World Cup 2025.
Dragunov on top again
A lot has changed in the meta of TEKKEN 8 since the previous Esports World Cup. We’ve got new characters and balance adjustments. Some DLCs made it to the top placements.
- Clive — CBM and chikurin played the Final Fantasy XVI character in some matchups.
- Anna couldn’t take ATIF and Arslan Ash to the playoffs, but JeonDDing looked strong with her in the 3rd place match.
- Eddy was the main pick for JeonDDing throughout the TEKKEN 8 EWC 2025.
- Heihachi — One player was on this powerful classic: qudans reached the top 8 with Heihachi Mishima.
As for character loyalists, we could see a few at the TEKKEN 8 Esports World Cup 2025.
- LowHigh and Knee were on Bryan.
- Rangchu played Kuma/Panda.
- eyemusician brought Yoshimitsu to the top-level play.
ULSAN is among the loyalists as well. He played Dragunov in 2024, when this was a big trend in the TEKKEN 8 community. ULSAN played Dragunov at the EWC 2025 as well — and you know the result, he won the tournament with this character.
For more info on TEKKEN 8 characters at this event, check out our EWC 2025 tournament overview.
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Korea dominates the TEKKEN 8 Esports World Cup 2025
Sis players in the top 8 of the EWC 2025 TEKKEN 8 are from South Korea. The other two, chikurin and PINYA, are from Japan.
ATIF and Arslan Ash are two Pakistani players in the top 16, while the others are also from Korea: 12 out of 16.
In the lower placements, we can see other countries and regions. This dominance of Korea on the top level of TEKKEN 8 esports is deeply impressive.
After this victory, ULSAN can focus on the TEKKEN World Tour 2025 qualification series. He is currently 5th on the global leaderboard, so there are good chances we will see ULSAN playing at the TWT 2025 Finals event.
For TEKKEN 8 news and updates, stick around on esports.gg.