Sunday night in the Evo Finals Arena, Arslan Ash looked cooked. The momentum he was facing would have been enough to flatten just about any other TEKKEN 8 player in the world, but Arslan Ash isn't just any player. After a hard-fought 3-1 victory in a Grand Finals Reset against ATIF, Arslan Ash was crowned Evo champion for the sixth time, and the third time in a row in Las Vegas.

Whether faced with the power of chikurin's Clive onslaught, or ATIF's seemingly unstoppable Anna, Arslan was able to dig deep and find an answer every time. In Winners Finals, chikurin had Arslan's own Anna dead to rights, and down 2-0, Arslan had no choice but to switch to his old standby Nina. Three different times, chikurin forced Arslan to set point, needing just one round to send him to Losers, and three times, Arslan saved it, advancing to Grand Finals thanks to the reverse 3-0. Then, after getting swept in the first set of Grand Finals by ATIF and dropping the first game of the bracket reset, with seemingly all the momentum against him, Arslan switched to Nina, clutched out Game 2 with a sliver of health, and ran away with the next two games to claim the championship. Arslan's sixth Evo Championship is a testament not just to his skill, but his poise under pressure.

To even reach Arslan, ATIF had to go on a truly legendary run through Losers bracket. A loss to chikurin in Winners Quarters forced him to enter Top 8 through losers side, and even making it there required a clutch 2-1 victory over Mangja to close out action Saturday night. On the finals stage, ATIF played out of his mind, dropping just two games while dispatching some of the world's greatest TEKKEN players en route to Grand Finals: JDCR, NOBI, Mulgold and chikurin in the runback. After a dominant 3-0 win over Arslan in the first set of Grand Finals, it looked like ATIF might finally break through and win his first Evo, but he'll have to settle for second place, just as he did in 2024.

Despite 2-1 scares from Rangchu and ATIF, chikurin was able to qualify through Winners side for his first Evo Las Vegas Finals in TEKKEN 8, and his first in any TEKKEN game since he placed 7th in TEKKEN 7 at Evo 2019. After losing the first game to LowHigh in Winners Semis, the Clive and Lili player clutched up to take the set 2-1 and advance to Winners Finals. The Evo Japan 2024 champion came incredibly close to taking out Arslan Ash, pushing him to a decisive fifth game, but Arslan was simply too much. Still, chikurin will go home with a third place finish, his best performance ever at an Evo Vegas, and his fifth overall Evo medal.

Mulgold has been a strong player since the TEKKEN 7 days, but he's reached a new gear in TEKKEN 8 in 2025. The only player to take games off him on Friday or Saturday was Arslan Ash, who sent him to losers in Top 12, but Mulgold recovered with a win over Bilal to clinch his spot in the finals. There, he took down Meo-Il and LowHigh both by 2-0 scores before falling 3-1 to ATIF. After coming up short of the finals at both Evo and Evo Japan in 2024, including a ninth place finish in Tokyo, Mulgold has now reached Top 8 at his last two Evos, with his fourth place finish this year serving as a solid follow-up to his second place finish at Evo Japan 2025.

Nobi's Steve play was dominant on the way to Winners side Top 8, as he dropped just two games across nine sets on his run to Sunday's finals. Unfortunately for him, he had no answers for either of the Pakistani players he ran into on the Finals stage, falling 2-0 to Arslan Ash in Winners Semifinals and 2-0 to ATIF in Losers Quarterfinals to bow out at fifth place. Despite the rough Sunday, Nobi will go home with his sixth Evo medal, including his second in TEKKEN 8 to go with the one he received for placing third at Evo 2024.

Friday and Saturday, LowHigh played nothing short of perfect TEKKEN. The Bryan player was the only one in the bracket to make it all the way to Winners side Top 8 without dropping a single game, including wins over the likes of Hafiz Tanveer, JoeCrush and JDCR. Sadly, that momentum fizzled out Sunday night, as he fell 2-1 to chikurin and 2-0 to Mulgold to end his Evo run at 5th place. Despite the bittersweet finish, LowHigh was able to claim his fifth overall Evo medal and his first in TEKKEN 8, which has to feel particularly good after he was stopped at 9th place in 2024.

Meo-IL lost the earliest of anybody to make TEKKEN 8's final bracket, falling 0-2 to JDCR in Top 24. Despite the early setback, he locked in, taking out Pinya in a Game 3 set before taking out eyemusician and Edge both with 2-0 scores to advance to Top 8 with his Jack-8. Unfortunately, his time on the finals stage was short lived, as he immediately fell 2-0 to Mulgold. With this year's 7th place finish and his 5th place finish at Evo Japan 2023, Meo-IL is starting to reach the level of consistency he showed in TEKKEN 7, a game in which he medaled at three straight Evos: Evo 2022 (5th), Evo Japan 2023 (2nd) and Evo 2023 (5th).

JDCR was rolling through winners bracket, taking out the likes of Anakin, Ulsan, and Meo-IL to earn a berth in Winners Quarterfinals. There, he was stopped by LowHigh, forcing him to make his way into Top 8 through losers. Spanish Asuka player Tibetano took Game 1 and pushed JDCR to a decisive fifth round in Game 2, but JDCR was able to clutch up, take the round, and from there, he ran away with it, taking the next three rounds to punch his ticket into Top 8 and sealing it with a Rage Art in the last seconds of the final round. He couldn't push any farther in Sunday's Finals, but he'll go home with his fifth Evo medal, including his second for TEKKEN 8.