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 the whole match. The previous was taking part in Billy whereas the latter rolled Kain, each thought of S-tier fighters within the present meta since Deadly Fury: Metropolis of the Wolves launched earlier this 12 months. However KojiKOG was instantly up towards the ropes, unable to interrupt out of GO1’s combos. He shortly misplaced the primary spherical however discovered a few openings within the second. Twice KojiKOG nearly reversed destiny, getting GO1 right down to inside a sliver of his well being earlier than in the end failing to complete him off.
The 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, individuals watching at dwelling 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 inside screaming we’ve all felt any time we’ve tried our greatest and nonetheless been discovered wanting.
The Finish of EVOgelion #EVO2025 https://t.co/fZOHd1HmNF 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 towards GO1. The 2 preventing recreation execs met in finals throughout an Evo 2015 aspect match for the 2D anime fighter Aquapazza as properly. KojiKOG misplaced then, too, and pulled the same stunt, performing as if his leg had been reduce off. This time, in fact, there was much more cash and bragging rights on the road. GO1’s wins final night time 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 EVO2025https://t.co/sQTu3yb2xJ 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 profitable are a staple of the preventing 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 match.
