The combating sport group is hailing Saul Leonardo “MenaRD” Mena II as one of many best Road Fighter gamers in historical past after successful Evo 2025, the most important combating sport event on the planet.
This victory alone isn’t inspiring followers to place him on their ‘Mt. Rushmore’ of combating sport GOATs, although; Mena can be the one Road Fighter professional to have received two Capcom Cup championships, an insane feat that hadn’t been achieved within the decade because it started in 2013.
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On prime of that, he received Evo Japan twice in back-to-back victories in 2024 – 2025 in opposition to Japanese professionals Ryukichi and Kakeru, the latter of whom can be a former Capcom Cup champion. The 2 met as soon as once more on the primary stage at Evo Las Vegas 2025, one 12 months after Mena’s victory on Kakeru’s residence turf — and it was a massacre.
However earlier than these gamers digitally duked it out on Sunday evening, we received the possibility to take a seat down with Mena and decide his mind about his mindset going into the event, having simply received Evo Japan a couple of months prior.
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MenaRD is being thought-about one of many best combating sport gamers on the planet following his Evo 2025 victory in opposition to Kakeru.
To MenaRD, mindset is extra necessary than any opponent
After watching his electrifying efficiency on Sunday evening, you wouldn’t have believed this was the identical participant. Mena was calm, considerate, and composed, telling us that he was merely ‘taking issues as they arrive’ moderately than getting too emotionally invested in his outcomes.
“ My mindset is simply preserving the entire outdoors issues — you understand, my physique, the entire issues that might come up, my household — all the things is ready [and taken care of],” he informed us.
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“I’ve all the things set so I can have peace of thoughts, and I can give attention to the event, and take a look at to remember something that may take away my focus. That method, I can play for hours on Saturday and attempt to have that high quality gameplay that I would like.
“I feel it’s extra necessary than attempting to fret about, ‘Oh, this particular participant, what’s he gonna do?’ You need to beat everyone, principally.”
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BigBird says being ‘zen’ is one of the best ways to strategy Road Fighter 6
Mena wasn’t alone in his considering. Final 12 months’s Evo runner-up, BigBird, expressed comparable sentiments about this 12 months’s event.
“ To be sincere, recently my mindset with coming into tournaments hasn’t actually been, ‘Oh, I gotta observe onerous subsequent event, or I gotta work on this and that. My mindset recently has been going to the event and ensuring I’m ready, clearly, however getting into with the mindset that, ‘Okay, I’m gonna do my finest. If it really works, okay, I’m going on, subsequent. If it doesn’t work, GGs, we go to the subsequent event,” he defined.”
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“I feel what you’re in charge of is principally ensuring you’re simply ready, however no matter goes on within the event or within the set, I do really feel such as you don’t have 100% management over it. You’ll be able to win, you may lose, clearly, however finally it would come all the way down to a really split-second determination or a fortunate guess, and I don’t assume you ought to be unhappy about it.”
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Purple Bull Content material Pool: Todd GutierrezEach BigBird and MenaRD shared comparable sentiments relating to their mindsets going into Evo 2025.
The composure behind MenaRD’s electrifying Evo showdown
Mena’s moderately zen disposition appeared to shift as he labored his method by means of the bracket. He more and more grew to become extra intense because the weekend wore on, lastly importing a video of himself shadowboxing as a warm-up to the Sunday finals.
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And on Sunday evening, he confronted Kakeru within the Winners’ Last by throwing his backpack to the bottom and staring him down, UFC weigh-in fashion. It was a callback to their previous Grand Finals match at Evo Japan 2024, and a transparent signal that Mena was amped up and devoted to successful his first Evo Las Vegas victory.
Purple Bull Content material Pool: Todd GutierrezMenaRD and Kakeru carried out a callback to their earlier Grand Finals set from Evo Japan 2024 with a fierce staredown.
After tossing Kakeru into the Losers’ bracket, Mena secured his spot within the Grand Last. Kakeru climbed his method again up, taking out upstart Hong Kong professional Mickey to as soon as once more meet Mena within the final combat of the evening — and Mena swept.
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It was as if Mena have been a shark that smelled blood within the water. His efficiency was aggressive, surgical, and actual. In a 3-0 sweep, the Dominican professional secured the Evo Vegas 2025 championship… however did his mindset keep the identical?
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We requested him this query on the post-match press convention, the place the beaming champ fortunately admitted that, though he regarded fired-up on the surface, he was calm and composed inside.
“I attempted to keep up that mindset as a lot as I might,” he answered. “In Winners’ Finals, after I stared down Kakeru, that had me fairly fired up. However then, the Grand Finals was simply the technical side of, ‘I’ve three extra matches than you. I’m capable of take extra dangers. You’ve gotten all this stress. It’s very tough for him to be in that place and I took benefit of it.
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“Inside, I used to be very quiet, very impartial and simply ready for the win to have a good time.”
This is only one of some issues which have aided Mena in his combat to the highest. On prime of preserving a relaxed mindset, Mena informed us that he needed to put the sport earlier than virtually all the things in his life to get the place he’s at present.
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“The one factor that I see all of us [pros] have in frequent is that we’re not essentially prepared to sacrifice all the things, however principally put the sport over all the things. It’s the primary precedence in all of our lives. I see lots of people that they’ve the expertise, they perceive Road Fighter, but it surely’s not the top of the world in the event that they lose.
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It’s a great factor in life, but it surely’s a foul factor for competitors, ’trigger it must be that severe. You’re gonna combat individuals that each one they do is play Road Fighter all day and take into consideration Road Fighter all day, so you must make the sport your precedence.”
Mena is now aiming to be a champion of all 4 Evo occasions, finally taking Evo France and Evo Singapore. For now, he’s recovering from his massive victory and setting his sights on the subsequent main — however his efficiency at Evo Las Vegas 2025 received’t quickly be forgotten, having securely cemented him within the combating sport corridor of legends in gamers’ hearts.
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