EVO 2025 recap: All winners, highlights, and more

EVO 2025 has officially wrapped for the year, and that means it’s time to see all the top 8 winners for all the major games. In addition, there were a slew of announcements to be excited for, and a couple of personal highlights from my time watching the event this year. It’s the most important tournament for fighting game fans and players, and as always, people travel from around the world to attend, not to mention the fans watching at home online.

From August 1-3, 2025, the best fighting game players gathered to battle in some of the best games around, from games still receiving updates like Street Fighter 6, to classics like Marvel vs. Capcom 2. Here are the big winners from EVO 2025, across the major tournaments.

All top 8 winners from main stage games at EVO 2025

Now that EVO 2025 has ended, it’s time to look at the major tournaments, and their winners. Though this is officially a “Top 8”, the standings on start.gg show ties for 5th place and ties for 7th place. We’ve labled them as such in the table below for all the major tournaments:

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	Street Fighter 6		Tekken 8		Fatal Fury: COTW		Guilty Gear: Strive		Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising
1	WBG RB MenaRD	1	TM\|RB Arslan Ash	1	DFM/PWS GO1	1	Kshuewhatdamoo	1	PAR Kojicoco
2	ZETA Kakeru	2	Falcons ATIF	2	Falcons ET	2	Ditto RedDitto	2	PAR Zane
3	ESAHK Micky	3	THY chikurin	3	CAG Fenritti	3	Aboii	3	IBUSHIGIN とろろ
4	Phenom	4	DNF Mulgold	4	WBG POONGKO	4	tatuma	4	GS フクナガ
5	REJECT Fuudo	5	DRX LowHigh	5	REJECT Laggia	5	PAR Jack	5	Zenith
5	KSG xiaohai	5	TeamYAMASA NOBI	5	KOG	5	PAR Daru_I-No	5	G.U. Monarch
7	DRX Leshar	7	DNF MeoIL	7	YG kubo	7	Precho	7	Vermillion
7	REJECT\|AngryBird	7	JDCR	7	GG Xian	7	Verix	7	AVENGER Ryazo

	Mortal Kombat 1		Under Night In-Birth II Sys:Celes		Marvel vs. Capcom 2
1	SonicFox	1	BBB Defiant	1	CM Khaos
2	RBT/T7G Nicolas	2	PAR BigBlack	2	VIGGA
3	ONi Kanimani	3	BNP knotts	3	Servbot
4	ONi Hourglass_of_rain	4	Mario	4	COMBO FIEND
5	MKJavierMK	5	捨て猫/suteneko	5	BROFORCE Peruchamp
5	STG Onlinecale213	5	1mom69 Revert	5	Clockw0rk
7	ONI MichaelCerFan	7	BBB OmniDeag	7	Gconceptz
7	Grr	7	Senaru	7	telly

Interestingly enough, there were a few players who went undefeated throughout their brackets. MenaRD went 13-0 in Street Fighter 6, Khaos went 10-0 in Marvel vs. Capcom 2 and unsurprisingly, SonicFox went 9-0 in Mortal Kombat 1. Nonetheless, everyone competed, did their best, and put on a show for the ages; not just the top 8 winners at EVO 2025, but everyone who took part.

Most important highlights from EVO 2025

There were simply too many great moments at EVO 2025, but I want to highlight just a few of them. Khaos winning Marvel vs. Capcom 2 on the main stage was a huge moment. He has been competing in the side tournaments for years.

But now, when MVC2 returned to the main stage, he showed off, alongside everyone else who competed, that MVC2 is alive and well despite being a game that is 25 years old. Khaos said the win was for everyone, and it was a heartfelt, amazing moment.

The other highlight for me was a side event, Justin Wong vs. Betty the OG Hunter. Betty is known for being an incredible SF6 competitor and streamer, primarily on Juri. The streamer, known for challenging and playing against OGs/Oji’s (older, well-known players), officially challenged Justin Wong, known for being one of the best to ever compete at EVO.

Justin Wong showed up to play though, and ended Betty's undefeated streak as an OG Hunter. What an amazing set, which you can watch above.

All major fighting game announcements from EVO 2025

In addition to a wealth of fighting game announcements, it was revealed that EVO will make its debut in Europe, between October 10-12, 2025. Registration is already open for EVO France, which you can find here. EVO will also return to Japan in 2026 (May 1-3), and Las Vegas (June 26-28).

If that weren’t enough, the second annual EVO Awards will take place in 2026. Finally, EVO is also coming to Singapore in 2027, but no official dates have been given. But what about the fighting games?

There are so many reveals, and we’ll list them below. My personal favorites were for Capcom Fighting Collection 2, Invincible VS, and Marvel Tokon.

Street Fighter 6: C. Viper is coming in Fall 2025, and on August 5, 2025, the Outfit 4 (swimsuits) will drop for AKI, Cammy, Chun-Li, Jamie, Kimberly, Luke and Manon.
Tekken 8: Armor King is the next character! His official release date is October 16, 2025. Beyond him is a brand-new character, Miary Zo, and the Baobab Horizon Stage.
Virtua Fighter: A new VF game will be revealed at the Tokyo Game Show in September 2025. Definitely something to be hyped for.
Virtua Fighter 5 R.E.V.O. World Stage: A new edition of VF5 is on the way on October 30, 2025. Available for PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC, and Switch 2 (eventually).
Marvel Tokon: Registration has opened for the Closed Beta, for PS5 on September 5-7 2025. Learn more about it here.
Granblue Fantasy Versus Rising: Wilnas is coming on August 5, and the 2.20 update will come out that day, with EX Characters. There’s also a Zombie Land Saga: Yumeginga Paradise Movie Premium Avatar set of Kotaro Tatsumi, and badges of him and Saga.
Guilty Gear: Strive: Lucy (Cyberpunk: Edgerunners) will join the game on August 21, 2025, and the 2.00 update will hit in 2026.
Hunter x Hunter: Nen x Impact: Season 1 DLC characters begin dropping in Fall 2025, with Neferpitou. Phinks Magcub was teased for Winter 2025, Shizuku Murasaki for Spring 2026, and Zeno Zoldyck for Summer 2026
Invincible VS: Omni-Man is confirmed playable.
Netcode Warriors: Netcode Warriors is an arena fighter teased at EVO 2025, and will be a PC title.

Check out our other fighting game guides and features:

About the author

Jason is an Esports and Gaming journalist at Sportskeeda holding an amazing 11 years of experience under his belt. Having put out 4000-plus articles and amassing over 12 million reads for Sportskeeda, he is among the company’s most experienced writers. Jason holds a Bachelor's degree in English from UNC Pembroke and was inspired to become a gaming journalist very early on in life after reading Nintendo Power.

Jason is a jack of all trades when it comes to gaming journalism. He’s a key writer in Sportskeeda's MMO department, but he also likes to help out in other categories, like streamers, RPG, card games, and whatever else is needed. A solo gamer at heart, Jason's favorite titles include Earthbound and Dragon Warrior.

Jason places high value on accuracy and relevance in his write-ups. He achieves this with thorough research to sift facts from rumors. One of the biggest highlights of his career is his interview with Canadian pro wrestler Kenny Omega about his inclusion in the Like a Dragon game series. He is also good friends with journalist Kazumo Hashimoto, who he admires for the kind of stories he works on and his deep ethics.

A true cinephile, one of Jason’s primary hobbies involves enjoying cinematic experiences. He also loves reading, be it fiction or manga, when not working. Additionally, he streams on Twitch and posts his gaming insights on YouTube.

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Edited by Jason Parker