MenaRD explains why he ditched Blanka for M. Bison in the Street Fighter 6 Evo 2026 finals

MenaRD is now a four-time Evo champion after winning Street Fighter 6 at Evo 2026 in Las Vegas — his second consecutive Las Vegas title, on top of back-to-back wins at Evo Japan in 2024 and 2025. The win itself was impressive, but the strategic story behind it was just as compelling.

Despite being best known for his Blanka, MenaRD leaned heavily on M. Bison in the most critical matches of the tournament. In Winners Semis against Shigematsu — also a Blanka player — Mena opened with Bison, went 2-2, then switched to Blanka only for the deciding game, which he won in a final-round thriller. When Shigematsu fought back through losers and reached Grand Finals, most expected a Blanka mirror from the jump. Instead, Mena ran Bison through the entire first set. Shigematsu reset the bracket 3-1, and only then did Mena pull out Blanka — closing the tournament 3-0 in the final set. After the match, Mena explained the logic: "Shigematsu is a teammate with another top Blanka player from Japan called Takagi. So I took that into account and I had confidence in my Bison after practice. My Bison actually produced better results against the Blanka players that I practiced with. But I also had the suspicion that his style was a little bit different — a little more aggressive, and had a lot of tricks." After the near-miss in Winners Semis, Mena felt he could afford to gamble on Bison again in Grand Finals since he held the winner's side advantage and could absorb a set loss. Once Shigematsu took that first set, Mena decided it was time to go back to his bread and butter.

MenaRD is currently based in Japan, competing in the Street Fighter League with Zeta Division alongside Momochi, Higuchi, and Yamaguchi — players he credits directly for his continued improvement. That daily high-level training environment clearly paid off at Evo, where his Bison was polished enough to be a genuine tournament weapon rather than just a pocket pick. Street Fighter 6 has been a dominant game for MenaRD since its launch, and his ability to develop a credible secondary character at the highest level sets him apart from most of the field.

The community reaction has been a mix of awe and amusement — watching the best Blanka in the world deliberately avoid using Blanka in a championship final, only to close it out with Blanka anyway, is exactly the kind of mind-game theater that makes fighting game majors worth watching. With four Evo titles and a training setup in Japan, MenaRD shows no signs of slowing down.