BODY: The Beast met The Bull โ and The Bull charged through. Dominican Republic's MenaRD, a two-time Capcom Cup champion, defeated Japanese fighting game legend Daigo Umehara 10-6 in "Kemonomichi: The Beast vs The Bull," a special first-to-10 Street Fighter 6 exhibition held on April 29.
The event was co-hosted by EVO, esports organization REJECT, and Bandits, drawing a peak audience of roughly 170,000 concurrent viewers on REJECT's official YouTube channel. The match lived up to its billing as one of the highest-level SF6 sets ever staged.
Umehara struck first, jumping out to a quick 2-0 lead. MenaRD responded with three straight wins to take control, and the two traded momentum throughout a tense middle stretch. When Umehara clawed back to tie things at 5-5, it looked like anyone's match. But MenaRD found another gear down the stretch, pulling away to clinch the set 10-6.
Both players delivered memorable post-match comments. MenaRD called it a dream come true: "I got to play a first-to-10 against the god of fighting games." Umehara, characteristically gracious in defeat, said: "I lost without a single millimeter of room for excuses. It's disappointing, but it feels clean."
The insider take
"Kemonomichi" (็ฃ้, literally "beast road") is a format Daigo himself helped popularize โ high-stakes, long-set exhibitions that strip away the bracket luck of tournament play and test raw skill and endurance. That MenaRD agreed to this format on Daigo's home turf, and won decisively, speaks volumes about where the power center of competitive Street Fighter sits right now. The 170,000-viewer peak also signals that the Japanese FGC audience has a massive appetite for narrative-driven exhibition matches, not just traditional tournament brackets. Expect more of these cross-regional showdowns as SF6 continues to grow the scene.
Originally reported by ้ปใใกใใใณใฒใผใใผ (Japanese).