EVO 2026 is over, and a new Street Fighter 6 champion has been crowned. The annual fighting game tournament was held in Las Vegas this weekend, with a whopping 12 games being featured in the main lineup. Of course, while many of them – Tekken 8, Guilty Gear Strive, 2XKO, etc. – are popular in their own right, nothing compares to Street Fighter 6.
Menard Is the Winner of EVO 2026 for Street Fighter 6
MenaRD is EVO 2026’s winner for Street Fighter 6. He beat Shigematsu in the Grand Finals today, thus becoming the first person to win EVO back-to-back for Street Fighter 6. He won in 2025, beating Kakeru’s JP. Previous winners, Punk and Angrybird, were nowhere to be seen on Sunday’s finals.
MenaRD was projected to win EVO 2026 going into top 8 today. MenaRD went straight into the Grand Finals after defeating Shigematsu, then dominating Kilzyou in the Winners Final with 3-0 win as Blanka. It was an incredible run, beating Kilzyou with such speed and fury, which started off-screen with a stare down on the main stage in Las Vegas.
Shigematsu, meanwhile, came back with a vengeance, seeking a rematch with MenaRD after initially losing to him in the semis of Winners on Sunday. His strategy to use Blanka against the master of Blanka, MenaRD, was quite bold. It almost worked out for him if Mena didn’t switch from Bison to Blanka for the last match of that bracket.
EVO 2026 Grand Finals for Street Fighter 6
Despite being known for using Blanka, MenaRD began with Bison again. It was a true rematch of the first round from Winners earlier tonight. Interestingly, even though that first match-up was heavily dominated by Mena as Bison, the Grand Finals rematch was evenly matched. Still, Shigematsu learned from the first fight; he managed to turn things around in the third game, going up 2-1 for the set and putting Mena on edge, ultimately sending the bracket to a Grand Finals Reset (since he came up from Losers).
Giving the people what they want, MenaRD swapped Bison for Blanka for the last set – it became a full-on Blanka vs Blanka fight. It’s rare for anyone to use Blanka outside of Mena, but to see the character being used by both competitors in the Grand Finals is unheard of, and it was an awesome show. MenaRD defeated Shigematsu 3-0 in the reset. He’s the undisputed Blanka champion.
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