You didn’t have to look at the Deadly Fury finals bracket at Evo 2025 to see Kazuyuki “KojiKOG” Koji writhing round onstage in entrance of hundreds. The second immediately went viral on-line. It’s already been memed to South City and again once more. However there was extra to KojiKOG’s Greek-tragedy-worthy theatrics than simply performing for the digital camera.
KojiKOG’s epic semifinals defeat was delivered by the hands of Goichi “GO1” Kishida, who finally went on to win your complete event. The previous was taking part in Billy whereas the latter rolled Kain, each thought-about S-tier fighters within the present meta since Deadly Fury: Metropolis of the Wolves launched earlier this 12 months. However KojiKOG was instantly up in opposition to the ropes, unable to interrupt out of GO1’s combos. He rapidly misplaced the primary spherical however discovered a few openings within the second. Twice KojiKOG virtually reversed destiny, getting GO1 right down to inside a sliver of his well being earlier than finally failing to complete him off.
Your complete semifinal lasted lower than 5 minutes, however KojiKOG howling in dismay at his defeat lasted practically 60 seconds. Whereas GO1 giggled, shrugged, and finally tried to consolation his rival, folks watching at house immediately started clipping the second and sharing it round on-line. It was an ideal encapsulation not solely of the stakes of that particular match however of the interior screaming we’ve all felt any time we’ve tried our greatest and nonetheless been discovered wanting.
The Finish of EVOgelion #EVO2025 pic.twitter.com/Ht0vzmHXd3
— Keith Ace (@Keith_Ace_) August 3, 2025
As followers identified, this isn’t the primary time KojiKOG has made excessive faces for the digital camera. nor was it his first bout in opposition to GO1. The 2 combating recreation execs met in finals throughout an Evo 2015 facet event for the 2D anime fighter Aquapazza as properly. KojiKOG misplaced then, too, and pulled an analogous stunt, performing as if his leg had been lower off. This time, after all, there was much more cash and bragging rights on the road. GO1’s wins final evening finally netted him an additional $10,000 in prize pool cash. He’ll even be in pole place for the $2.5 million Deadly Fury prize pool on the SNK World Championship in November (dropped at you by Saudi Arabia’s human rights violation slush fund).
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10年ぶりに足を切断されてしまう小路KOG vs GO1 EVO2025 pic.twitter.com/DyPHT39YUu
— 小路ＫＯＧ (@kkkog) August 4, 2025
“KOG, who had his leg amputated after 10 years, vs GO1 EVO2025,” KojiKOG posted on X. Whereas dramatic pop-offs after successful are a staple of the combating recreation scene, KojiKOG could have simply elevated the inverse of that into an artwork kind all its personal. Followers are already hyped to look at him lose his subsequent large event.
