Punk sweeps Street Fighter 6 and Doramigi slams the competition in Smash Ultimate at LVL UP EXPO 2026: Explosive FGC weekend leading up to Evo Japan 2026

FGC is in for a wild weekend courtesy of you LVL UP EXPO 2026which saw international players as Goichi “GO1” Kishida, Shoji “Fenritti” Shoagain Doramigi they flew to Los Angeles to prove themselves.

From Victor “Punk” Woodley‘s Street Fighter 6 run to Christopher “NYChrisG” Gonzalez appearing in the Top 8 in almost every tournament he entered, here is a very interesting article from last weekend.

Punk is arguably one of the best Street Fighter to ever come out of the United States of America. He won Evo Vegas 2024, many of the first Capcom Pro Tour events, and many tournaments.

In fact the only thing missing from his resume is winning the Capcom Cup.

While that title eluded him, he appeared at LVL UP EXPO 2026 and swept away his opponents. Street Fighter 6. Punk actually entered the Top 8 bracket from the loser’s side after that Michael “Riddles” Kim deprived him of his chances to win this tournament flawlessly. He crawled on the losing side, winning a runback against Riddles 3-0, then went on to win nailbiter matches against NYChrisG for the back-to-back LVL UP EXPO title.

As an 0-2’er, winning a tournament on the losing side is more impressive than winning it on the winning side. I don’t have the most up-to-date data, but according to this random Reddit guy from the last 11 years, Smash tournaments have been heavily on the side of the winners. Players from the losing side of the bracket have less than a 20% chance of winning everything. I bet my money that the stats are pretty much the same in all fighting games.

Shortly after his win, Punk headed straight to catch a flight to Japan, where he now lives and talked about how “different” hot toilets are in Japan.

Never change, Punk.

I went to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate side of things, Doramigi also won back-to-back, beating his friends and rivals to cement himself as the best Smash Ultimate player in the world.

And to tell you the truth, this child is starting to panic.

His Liquipedia page lists all of his tournament entries, and it shows that the last time he was out of the Top 8 was 2024. That’s two years of consistency! It reminds us Leonardo “MkLeo” Lopez PerezUltimate’s reign in early 2020 until Smash Ultimate Summit 5 in 2023, where he was sent home early.

Although there is an argument that Doramigi doesn’t enter as many competitions as MkLeo back in the day, he has reduced the child; he still has school to attend.

Based on his tweet above, Doramigi’s next match appears to be Kagaribi, which takes place the next day Evo Japan 2026. A premier tournament with high-flying international talent, including McLeo and even Riddles. I mean, you’re already there for Evo Japan, you might as well stay a few more days to play the Smash tournament!

Very few people in FGC have risen to the top of NYChrisG. He also won the Capcom Cup when it wasn’t a $1 million tournament with outrageous prize distribution, and he has a few Evo titles under his belt.

However, that doesn’t stop him from entering big tournaments and making bank with them.

Just to put things into context, Punk won $4,750 after coming first in Street Fighter 6 and fourth in Street Fighter 6. Deadly Rage: City of Wolves. NYChrisG, on the other hand, placed second in Street Fighter 6, for the second time Street Fighter 4third time in 2XKOthe fourth in between Granblue Fantasy Versus: Risingthe fourth in between Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3and ninth in Fatal Fury: City of Wolves for a total win of $3,500.

That’s not too bad for a fighting game draw, considering our prize pools are low compared to other gaming platforms. Not only that, it’s much more than what other players have achieved by ranking in their various games! Guilty Gear -STRIVE-, for example, was awarded only $700 in its first tournament.

This isn’t a diss to the FGC prize pools (but again, please support us more), but it’s more proof of how NYChrisG can put together so many fighting games. Many players today only play certain fighting games and never touch others, which often results in meaningless dialogue. In my opinion, playing a variety of fighting games (while confusing due to muscle memory and other variables) will improve your fundamentals and understanding of fighting games as a whole.

But that’s just me.

Continuing his ways, NYChrisG takes a look at Evo Japan, entering The King of Fighters XV, Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves, Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising, and the 2XKO bracket. If you are wondering why there is no Street Fighter 6 there, apparently, the bracket has a limit of players, and could not register in time.

After failing to make it to the Top 8 at the Tekken World Tour Finals 2025, Arslan “Arslan Ash” Siddique he seems to have found his footsies (are you getting them?) at the right time for his first to seven sets against it Yuta “Chikurin” Take on April 29, 2026.

Arslan Ash didn’t drop a match at LVL UP EXPO 2026, sweeping all his opponents aside and taking his back-to-back title.

The seven-time Evo champion hasn’t won a tournament since Evo France 2025, and this win should boost confidence not only for the first set to seven, but also for Evo Japan, which comes after.

Arslan Ash has returned to Japan, where he has been living since February of this year. This gives him one day to prepare for his set against Chikurin. In my opinion, Arslan Ash has the edge in this, as he has a good win rate against Chikurin in Tekken 7 tournaments. However, in Episode 8Chikurin is a different animal, and the two have traded sets, resulting in a 1-1 record.

Although the next match will be a good ass Tekken show, I think it should have been Arslan Ash vs Knee, and make it one to ten. Maybe make it a big event.

Riddles’ transition in Street Fighter 6 was one of the smoothest I’ve seen so far, and it’s not even close.

It’s rare that a Super Smash Bros. player. find success in another part of FGC, and the only person I can think of is. William “Leffen” Hjelte, who departed Melee in Guilty Gear -STRIVE-.

The Terry Bogard main had a smooth bracket until the Top 8 finals, where they battled NYChrisG and lost 3-1. It didn’t end there, as Punk, who was eating a lot of potatoes, eliminated him from the competition in third place.

However, this is still a very respectable spot for Riddles, considering he sent Punk to the loser’s bracket. On top of that, he also defeated GO1, one of the best Street Fighter 6 players in the world.

This baby’s evolution is truly something to behold. He announced his intention to focus on Street Fighter 6 last year and has been doing very well ever since. He qualified for the Esports World Cup as a free agent and finished second in the Street Fighter League Pro-US 2025 alongside Punk, Alan “Mshana” Sun, again Shawn “Psycho” Williams.

Like the other competitors here, Riddles has his eye on that Evo Japan 2026 title and he has a good chance at it.