For but a few seconds of Winners Finals of Evo 2025's Mortal Kombat 1 bracket, SonicFox looked downright human. But with their back against the wall against Nicolas, their opponent in last year's MK1 finals, and just 4.26 HP standing between them and a trip to Losers bracket, SonicFox showed why they were a 7-time Evo Champion entering this year's bracket. Today, they make it 8. After clutching up with a reverse 3-0 to advance to Grand Finals, SonicFox claimed yet another championship here in Las Vegas, taking out Nicolas 3-2 yet again to seal it.

The champ returns. SonicFox conquers all challengers and becomes your #Evo2025 Mortal Kombat 1 Champion! pic.twitter.com/SdNxzHAalS

— Evo (@Evo) August 2, 2025

Nicolas takes 2nd for the third straight year in Mortal Kombat's main bracket at Evo. He double eliminated Europe's top MK1 player, Kaminami, to claim his spot in the top 2, including an insane 0.1 HP comeback in Losers Finals. He pushed SonicFox to a decisive fifth game twice, but missed out on the upset by the slimmest of margins both times. Nicolas was near untouchable on the road to Top 8, dropping just two games before the final bracket, and he remains one of strongest and most consistent players in MK1.

Kanimani has been unstoppable in Europe's MK1 scene of late, and he continued to dominate on the way to Evo 2025's final bracket. He didn't drop a single game until Winners Quarters, but finally ran into a wall against Nicolas in Winners Semis. He bounced back, taking out OnlineCale with Sindel and then switching to Johnny Cage to eliminate Hourglass_Of_Rain and advance to Top 3. Nicolas got him again in Losers Finals, but Kanimani will still walk away from his first Evo with a medal.

Hourglass_Of_Rain was the clear breakout star of this year's Mortal Kombat 1 bracket. Not only was this his first Evo, it was his first time traveling outside of Texas for a major tournament. The only Mileena in Top 8 took out two Evo Champions in Rewind (Injustice 2 at Evo 2018) and ScorpionProcs (Mortal Kombat 11 at Evo 2022) to clinch his spot in Winners Semis. He couldn't keep it going against SonicFox in Top 8, but he picked up another strong win over MKJavierMK before falling to the tournament's second seed, Kanimani, for fourth place — an incredible Evo debut for the Texan.

Things were looking rough for MKJavierMK after an early loss to BWoodTTV in Top 96, but Scorpion's strongest soldier didn't give up, and instead went on the best Losers run of Evo 2025's Mortal Kombat 1 bracket. He rattled off 5 straight wins, taking out one of America's top NRS players and Evo 2018 Injustice 2 champion Rewind en route to qualifying for Top 8. There, he picked up another win over MichaelCeraFan before falling to Hourglass_Of_Rain for another 5th place finish at Evo, matching his performance from Evo 2024.

OnlineCale finished 17th at Evo 2024's Mortal Kombat 1 bracket, but anybody who was paying attention knew he had potential to go much further this year. The reigning CEO champion more than realized that potential. After falling to top seed SonicFox in Winners, OnlineCale's Kung Lai was able to dispatch BWoodTTV and Grr before falling just 213 HP short of making a huge upset over 2nd seed Kanimani in Losers Quarterfinals. OnlineCale earned his first Evo medal for the 5th place finish, and the future couldn't be brighter for one of Mortal Kombat 1's young rising stars.

Grr's arrival in Mortal Kombat 1's Top 8 was the culmination of a long career in NRS games, dating back to 2018 and Injustice 2. He finished 9th in his first Evo in 2018, but couldn't quite return to that level at future Evos in Mortal Kombat 11 and Mortal Kombat 1. You could feel the emotion when he finally punched his ticket to Top 8 after a tense 3-2 win over Evo 2022's Mortal Kombat 11 champion ScorpionProcs. He fell 3-0 to OnlineCale to bow out at 7th, but will still go home with a well-earned first Evo medal.

The other 7th place finisher was a fellow Geras player, MichaelCeraFan. The Canadian had an incredible run at his first Evo, bouncing back from a 3-2 loss to HanRashid to go on a four set winning streak to reach the finals stage, finally clinching Top 8 with a 3-2 upset over SnakeDoe. He fell 3-1 to MKJavierMK to go out at 7th, but MichaelCeraFan certainly made a statement at his first Evo.