SonicFox keeps his Mortal Kombat Evo streak alive with a decisive grand finals victory

Mortal Kombat is back at Evo as a featured game for the first time since 2016, with the newly-released Mortal Kombat 11 replacing Mortal Kombat X.

But the three-year break didn’t stop Dominique “SonicFox” McLean from picking up right where he left off. The 2015 and 2016 back-to-back MK Evo champ continued his dominance with an undefeated run through the tournament, which included a decisive 3-0 victory over Ryan “Dragon” Walker in the grand finals.

SonicFox and Dragon have been head and shoulders above the rest of the MK11 pro scene since the game’s release in April this year. Having already clashed at CEO 2019 in July, the two went at it again in the winners finals this weekend.

SonicFox took an early lead in the winners finals, easily taking the first two games. But Dragon was able to fight back and level the score at 2-2. The final game came down to a single round, but SonicFox was able to trap Dragon in the corner, finishing him off with a big overhead to advance to the grand finals.

Dragon took a nailbiting 3-2 victory over Sayed Hashim “Tekken Master” Ahmed in the losers finals, which also came down to the final round. In this matchup, Dragon eventually willed his way back to the grand finals for another shot at SonicFox.

There were no surprise picks in the grand finals, with both players sticking to their signature characters: SonicFox on Cassie Cage and Dragon on Cetrion.

Dragon tried to control the pace of the game and zone out SonicFox with his superior projectile game. But SonicFox refused to trade projectiles, responding instead by aggressively rushing into Dragon’s face.

In game one, Dragon found himself trapped in the corner and couldn’t escape, falling victim to two consecutive dash in throws, which included a Brutality finish to end the game.

In game two, SonicFox continued the relentless pressure, never giving Dragon a chance to breathe. He immediately punished every mistake and continuously cut off any attempts Dragon made to create space.

Dragon finally managed to slow down the tempo in the third game, and was able to keep SonicFox away with some excellent projectile zoning.

With both players low on life, Dragon managed to stall long enough to get a rare time out victory, staying on the ground after a knockdown to eat away the last few seconds of the clock.

The second round again came down to the wire, with SonicFox trying to get in and Dragon holding him at bay, but a whiffed throw by Dragon was all SonicFox needed, and he immediately counterattacked with a big combo to end the round, putting him at tournament point.

Round three was another nailbiter, but with both players low, Dragon made another fatal mistake by trying to finish off SonicFox after a knockdown, when he probably should have backed up and gone for projectile chip damage.

Instead, he ended up eating a wakeup punish, which SonicFox quickly followed up with a dash in two-punch combo to end the game. With that, SonicFox claimed a 3-0 victory and his third Mortal Kombat Evo title.

For his first-place finish, SonicFox won US$14,450 and 600 MK11 Pro Kompetition points, keeping him firmly at number one in the rankings. Dragon took home US$6,150 and 450 Pro Kompetition points, which moves him up to second place.