TEKKEN 8 at 2025 Esports World Cup Champion: Ulsan Does It Again

TEKKEN8 at EWC 25 began with 32 competitors and $1,000,000 on the line. Legends like Arslan "Arslan Ash" Siddique filled the bracket, but only Ulsan was left standing after the dust settled. Many of those legends failed to make it out of the tournament's second phase, leaving six Korean and two Japanese players to fight it out in the top eight.

In the end, Lim “Ulsan” Soo-hoon won the final 5-2 over Yoon “LowHigh” Sun-woong. This championship victory means that Ulsan is now the back-to-back Tekken 8 Esports World Cup champion. He also becomes the highest-earning Tekken player of all time.

Ulsan’s journey to his second championship gold

Tekken 8 at EWC 25 saw competitors fight across a grueling three-day tournament, where every misstep meant they were that much closer to elimination. Ulsan began the group stage by going through his fellow South Korean competitors, Kim “JDCR” Hyun-jin and Jeon “Rangchu” Hyeon-ho, during the first phase of competition. Despite losing to Kim “Kkokkoma” Mu-jong 0-2 in the initial match of the upper bracket in the second phase, he defeated EVO 2025 champion Arslan “Arslan Ash” Siddique 2-1 in the lower bracket to both knock him out and secure his place in the top eight.

After claiming a 5-1 victory over Japan’s Shinya "PINYA" Yamaguchi in the quarterfinals and a 5-3 victory over Kim “CBM” Jae-hyun in the semifinals, only a single first-to-five set remained between Ulsan and the championship trophy. Ulsan started off strong, building early momentum and taking a 2-0 lead in the set. However, LowHigh found his footing and tied the set 2-2, seemingly shifting the momentum back to himself.

Yet, the two losses Ulsan suffered allowed him to download his opponent's strategy, as he dominated the final three games and claimed championship gold once again at EWC 25.

This victory means Ulsan now has the honor of calling himself a back-to-back EWC champion, becoming only the second competitor to achieve the feat.

Club Championship

With Ulsan’s championship victory at EWC 25, DN Freecs earned 1,000 Club Championship points, bringing them up to 11th place in the standings with 1,200 points.

DN Freecs became the 17th unique club to claim a title at EWC 25. The Korean club is now tied for 11th place with Team Spirit and Team Secret. With 1,200 points and their final competition concluded, they won’t be climbing any higher on the leaderboard.

A top-four finish for Team Vitality’s Jeon “Jeondding” Sang-hyun meant 300 CC points for his team, solidifying their spot in 3rd place. As the final week of the Esports World Cup approaches, the race to the top of the standings is set to be a close one.

With dozens of matches taking place over the next week, new legends will rise as winners are crowned and rivals are toppled. Watch the Esports World Cup 2025 live or check out the ticket options to watch the games in person!