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POSTED 05 / 29 / 26

COMBO BREAKER 2026 Recap

ARTICLE BY Cale Michael

A year removed from the event’s 10th anniversary, COMBO BREAKER welcomed over 7,000 competitors across more than 50 games on the official and community tournament lineups. That means you potentially missed an entire weekend of new champions being crowned, including some in games appearing for the first time at arguably the biggest community-rooted fighting game event in the world.

COMBO BREAKER 2026: All tournament results

If you just want a quick overview of who won each of the 24 main-event tournaments, here is a full list of the final results for every game. We’ve also included links to the main VODs for each title where they are available, just in case you want to catch the action for yourself.

  • Street Fighter 6: Xiaohai 3-1 (Reset) Hinao
  • TEKKEN 8: Farzeen 3-1 (Reset) ATIF
  • Guilty Gear -Strive-: NitroNY 3-1 Jack
  • 2XKO: SonicFox and INZEM 3-1 Hikari
  • UNDER NIGHT IN-BIRTH II Sys:Celes: OmniDeag 3-2 (Reset) Revert
  • Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising: Insurgent 3-0 Havaniceday
  • FATAL FURY: City of the Wolves: GO1 3-0 Nemo
  • Invincible VS: Zippy 3-0 (Reset) Dylnyan
  • Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike: FrankieBFG 3-0 NYChrisG
  • Virtua Fighter 5 R.E.V.O.: GentlemanThief 3-1 Itabashi Zangief
  • Mortal Kombat 1: Kanimani 3-2 Lavender Rain
  • Killer Instinct: extreme zomb1e 3-0 (Reset) SonicDolphin117
  • BlazBlue: Central Fiction: Monarch 3-0 Koopa_Klawz
  • Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3: FabulousZucchini19 3-0 Wedge
  • Vampire Savior: Dr. Doctor 3-1 (Reset) Ailerus
  • Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2: Solstice 3-1 Scud
  • Melty Blood: Actress Again Current Code: OnionLust 3-2 (Reset) Pimbus The Wizard
  • Skullgirls 2nd Encore: dekillsage 3-2 05mario
  • Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus R: deft 3-2 SUMMER BREEZE
  • Melty Blood: Type Lumina: Miah_J 3-2 (Reset) Kikoho
  • THE KING OF FIGHTERS XV: Layec 3-0 (Reset) KAISER666
  • Dengeki Bunko Fighting Climax Ignition: Abister 3-1 Yokai Teio
  • Mystery Game Tournament: Scamp 4-2 Jeb

Now, if just reading that list wasn’t enough for you, here are some of the biggest takeaways from COMBO BREAKER this year! And trust us, there are more than a few you should give a watch to.

Xiaohai’s continued Street Fighter 6 dominance

While he might not be the most high-profile Street Fighter player when it comes to spectacle on the biggest stage, Xiaohai has laid out quite the argument for being one of Street Fighter 6’s biggest names on the back of yet another major victory.

Coming from the Losers bracket, Xiaohai managed to avenge an early top eight loss against rising star Hinao, putting on a relatively dominant showing in a Grand Finals reset, resulting in a 6-1 overall score in the fighting game legend’s favor. He also took down Kobayan, Fuudo, Ryukichi, and more on his way to claiming the COMBO BREAKER title.

With this win, he is now guaranteed a spot at Capcom Cup 13 and becomes the first player to ever qualify for two different Esports World Cup events two years in a row, following his big win in FATAL FURY: City of the Wolves at Evo Japan 2026. That means he will get to go for a historical three-peat at EWC this year, having won SF6 at the event in 2024 and 2025.

As for his SF6 legacy, CB2026 is his first major win in the game this year, bouncing back from a ninth place exit at Dreamhack Atlanta, where he lost to Kobayan, and a 193rd place finish at Evo Japan. Now, he looks to improve his results at Evo in Las Vegas for a third year in a row after finishing fifth in 2025.

Hinao’s run also shouldn’t be left as an afterthought post-CB either, as the 15-year-old prodigy put on a show while earning his highest placement at an international event thus-far. With wins over Dual Kevin, HotDog29, Jr., and Xiaohai, his Sagat has put him firmly on the list of players to watch heading into Evo 2026 and beyond.

Farzeen finds another TEKKEN win

Pakistan has a verifiable squad of top performers hitting the sticks at every major TEKKEN event, but few have been competing at majors and sitting on the cusp of taking one home for as long as Farzeen. And he finally did so at COMBO BREAKER 2026 in a classic showdown against his countryman and FALCONS teammate, ATIF.

With this run, there were no easy outs, as Farzeen ran a gauntlet through Rangchu, Hafiz Tanveer, Arslan Ash, Mangja, and ATIF from the final round of pools into Grand Finals. His Grand Finals rematch against ATIF was nothing but straight hands too, as the Lidia and Bryan players traded blows across two series, with ATIF getting a 3-2 bracket reset before finally falling in the second set.

While CB2026 isn’t the first big win Farzeen has achieved since hitting the global FGC scene in TEKKEN 7 back in 2019, it is his first major victory at a classic tournament series following two straight years of impressive showings in T8. That includes multiple top finishes at events like CEO and the TEKKEN World Tour Finals, along with wins at the SEA Major and Clash of the Olympians last year.

Right before the top eight kicked off, Bandai Namco also officially revealed that TEKKEN 8 will be the first in the series to welcome an anime representative to the roster with Yujiro Hanma joining the fight in early 2027 as the final DLC character for Season 3.

New York back on top in Guilty Gear -Strive-

There are plenty of fighting games where players from specific countries or regions are known to dominate, but it probably isn’t as common to see those same narratives pop up from a single city. And yet, with NitroNY taking the COMBO BREAKER 2026 crown in Guilty Gear -Strive-, it looks like New York has some serious rights to be in that conversation—at least when it comes to COMBO BREAKER.

TempestNYC previously won back to back CB titles in 2023 and 2024, and last year’s champion UMISHO was knocked out early by iDom, who spent COMBO BREAKER showing his usual prowess by taking down big names across multiple fighting games. This left the doors wide open for an ARC WORLD TOUR Finals rematch between Nitro and Jack, though it took a bit longer to get there.

Despite being upset by Cheryo in the semifinals, Jack took revenge with a swift 3-0 sweep to join Nitro in the title match. However, unlike their previous meeting, Nitro cleaned up with a 3-1 win, overwhelming Jack’s Happy Chaos with endless pressure from Leo. Historically, this puts Nitro up 5-3 across their sets, according to Liquipedia.

SonicFox doubles down on doubles in 2XKO win

While Hikari doubled up on Evo hardware with a 2XKO win at Evo Japan 2026, SonicFox and INZEM took center stage at COMBO BREAKER, proving once again that playing with a duo is more than viable in the game’s current format.

While there were some notable international names missing from the player pool, 2XKO had a standout bracket as it made its COMBO BREAKER debut. Among the biggest names entering the fray, there were only a few pairs representing the unique nature of Riot Games’ fighting game—duos.

Working together, SonicFox and INZEM went a perfect 10-0 through the bracket, including wins over the Evo Japan winner and runner-up to win the event. After besting Supernoon 2-0, the duo took a tough set over Hikari—before doing it again just a bit later in Grand Finals 3-1.

Despite many League of Legends fans hating to see Teemo winning anything, this result is another major victory for SonicFox, INZEM, and the current state of 2XKO.

While it is still a rarity, SonicFox and INZEM have once again proven that duo play is a viable option at the highest level of 2XKO, following their win at Texas Showdown earlier this year, making them, in Sonic’s own words, “THE FUCKING STRONGEST DUO ON THE PLANET.”

“To all Duo 2XKO Players: Let this event be a moment to never forget that nothing is impossible if you set your hearts and minds to it,” SonicFox said after the win. “We overcame your Evo champion and runner-up through sheer hard work and dedication. Keep believing, and the fruits of your labor will payoff [sic]!”

Riot also revealed that Senna will be joining the game on June 9, with a gameplay trailer set to drop on June 2.

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