The FGC was treated to a wild weekend courtesy of LVL UP EXPO 2026, which saw international players such as Goichi “GO1” Kishida, Shoji “Fenritti” Sho, and Doramigi fly in to prove themselves at Los Angeles.

From Victor “Punk” Woodley’s Street Fighter 6 run to Christopher “NYChrisG” Gonzalez appearing in the Top 8 of virtually all the tournaments he entered, here’s the rundown of the most interesting stories last weekend.

Punk is arguably one of the best Street Fighter players to have ever come out of the United States of America. He won Evo Vegas 2024, a lot of Capcom Pro Tour premier events, and a whole lot of tournaments.

Literally the only thing missing in his resume is winning the Capcom Cup.

While that title still eludes him, he showed up at LVL UP EXPO 2026 and swept his opponents in Street Fighter 6. Punk actually entered the Top 8 of the bracket from the loser’s side of things after Michael “Riddles” Kim robbed him of his chances to win the tournament flawlessly. He crawled from the loser’s side, won the runback against Riddles 3-0, and then proceeded to win nailbiter games against NYChrisG for the back-to-back LVL UP EXPO title.

As a professional 0-2’er, winning a tournament from the loser’s side is much more impressive than winning it from the winner’s side. I don’t have much more recent data, but according to this random Reddit guy from 11 years ago, Smash tournaments are overwhelmingly won from the winner’s side. Players from the loser’s side of the bracket have less than 20% chance of winning the whole thing. I bet my money that the statistic is pretty similar across fighting games.

Right after his win, Punk went straight to catch a flight to Japan, where he’s now staying and talking about how heated toilets “hit different” in Japan.

Never change, Punk.

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

And to tell you the truth, this kid is getting kind of scary.

His Liquipedia page lists all his placements in tournaments he’s entered, and it shows that the last time he wasn’t in the Top 8 was in 2024. That’s two years of consistency! It’s reminiscent of Leonardo “MkLeo” Lopez Perez’s dominance in early Ultimate from 2020 up until Smash Ultimate Summit 5 in 2023, where he got sent home early.

While there’s an argument to be had that Doramigi isn’t entering as many tournaments as MkLeo back in the day, cut the kid some slack; he still has school to attend.

Based on his tweet above, Doramigi’s next tournament appears to be Kagaribi, which takes place the day after Evo Japan 2026. It’s a Premier tournament with a lot of international talent flying in, including MkLeo and even Riddles. I mean, you’re already there for Evo Japan, might as well stay for a few more days to play a Smash tournament!

There are very few people in the FGC who have risen to NYChrisG’s heights. He won the Capcom Cup back when it wasn’t a $1 million tournament with atrocious prize distribution, and he has a couple of Evo titles under his belt.

However, that doesn’t stop him from entering huge tournaments and making a bank out of it.

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

That’s not too bad for a fighting game haul, considering that our prize pools are low compared to other esports. Not just that, it’s a lot more than what other players got for placing first in their respective games! Guilty Gear -STRIVE-, for example, only awarded $700 to its first-place competitor.

This is not a diss to FGC prize pools (but also kinda, please fund us more), but it’s more of a testament to how NYChrisG can juggle multiple fighting games. Most players nowadays play only certain fighting games and never really touch others, which usually results in meaningless discourse. 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 sets his sights on Evo Japan, entering The King of Fighters XV, Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves, Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising, and the 2XKO brackets. If you’re wondering why there’s no Street Fighter 6 there, apparently, the bracket had a player limit, and he couldn’t register on time.

After failing to get to the Top 8 at the Tekken World Tour Finals 2025, Arslan “Arslan Ash” Siddique seems to have found his footsies (get it?) just in time for his first-to-seven set against Yuta “Chikurin” Take on April 29th, 2026.

Arslan Ash hasn’t dropped a game in LVL UP EXPO 2026, washing all his opponents aside and taking home his back-to-back title.

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

Arslan Ash is now back in Japan, where he has been staying 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 bout, as he has a positive win rate against Chikurin in Tekken 7 tournaments. However, in Tekken 8, Chikurin is a different beast, and the two have traded sets, resulting in a 1-1 record.

While the upcoming match is going to be an exhibition of good ass Tekken, I think that it should’ve been Arslan Ash vs Knee, and then make it a first-to-ten. Maybe even make it the main event.

Riddles’ transition to Street Fighter 6 has been one of the smoothest ones I’ve seen so far, and it’s not even close.

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

The Terry Bogard main had a smooth bracket up until the winner’s finals of Top 8, where he fought NYChrisG and lost 3-1. It didn’t end there, as a rampaging Punk blasted him out of the tournament in third place.

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

This kid’s evolution is truly something to behold. He announced his intent to focus on Street Fighter 6 a year ago and has been doing wonderfully ever since. He has qualified for the Esports World Cup as a free agent and has finished second at the Street Fighter League Pro-US 2025 alongside Punk, Alan “Nephew” Sun, and Shawn “Psycho” Williams.

Just like the other competitors here, Riddles has his eyes on that Evo Japan 2026 title and has a fair chance at it.