You didn’t have to observe 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 digicam.
KojiKOG’s epic semifinals defeat was delivered by the hands of Goichi “GO1” Kishida, who ultimately went on to win the whole match. 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 towards 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 nearly reversed destiny, getting GO1 all the way down to inside a sliver of his well being earlier than finally failing to complete him off.
All the semifinal lasted lower than 5 minutes, however KojiKOG howling in dismay at his defeat lasted almost 60 seconds. Whereas GO1 giggled, shrugged, and ultimately 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 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 digicam. nor was it his first bout towards GO1. The 2 combating sport execs met in finals throughout an Evo 2015 facet match for the 2D anime fighter Aquapazza as nicely. KojiKOG misplaced then, too, and pulled an identical stunt, performing as if his leg had been minimize off. This time, after all, there was much more cash and bragging rights on the road. GO1’s wins final evening ultimately 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 (delivered to 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 profitable are a staple of the combating sport scene, KojiKOG could have simply elevated the inverse of that into an artwork kind all its personal. Followers are already hyped to observe him lose his subsequent massive match.
