MenaRD Won Street Fighter at Evo and Arslan Ash Won Tekken Again, and Japan Took Five of the Thirteen Titles
Thirteen games on the Las Vegas main stage in late June. The Dominican Republic and Pakistan took the two biggest, and the rest of the board was more evenly spread than fighting games usually manage.
Evo 2026 was held in Las Vegas in late June across thirteen main-stage fighting games. MenaRD of the Dominican Republic won Street Fighter 6. Arslan Ash of Pakistan won Tekken 8.
Main stage champions
| Game | Champion | Country |
|---|---|---|
| Street Fighter 6 | MenaRD | Dominican Republic |
| Tekken 8 | Arslan Ash | Pakistan |
| Guilty Gear Strive | RedDitto | Japan |
| Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves | xiaohai | China |
| Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising | Kojicoco | Japan |
| Virtua Fighter 5 REVO | GentlemanThief | United States |
| Vampire Savior | Kaji | Japan |
| Under Night In-Birth 2 | BigBlack | United States |
| 2XKO | Hikari | United States |
| Blazblue: Central Fiction | Fukku | Japan |
| Invincible VS | akuri_ | Japan |
| Rivals of Aether 2 | Plup | United States |
The distribution is the point
Japan took five titles, the United States four, and single titles went to the Dominican Republic, Pakistan and China. Very few competitive disciplines spread a championship weekend across five nations that unevenly matched in population and infrastructure.
Fighting games do it because the barrier is a console and an arcade stick rather than a league seat, and because Evo is an open bracket. Arslan Ash's original breakthrough came out of a Pakistani scene with almost no international travel budget, and he has now been the reference point in Tekken for years.
The lineup itself
Thirteen games is a wide main stage, and the list mixes current releases with much older titles. Vampire Savior dates to 1997 and Blazblue: Central Fiction to 2015; 2XKO and Invincible VS are recent. Keeping both on the same stage is what separates Evo from a publisher-run circuit.
Where it sits on Playdash
Playdash carries esports markets across the major circuits. This is editorial coverage of a completed tournament rather than a market preview, and no prices are quoted here.
Champions, games and event location as published in Evo 2026 results coverage. Entrant numbers, exact dates and runner-up placings were not confirmed consistently in the sources consulted and are not stated here. Correct at the time of writing on 30 August 2026.