Dominican Saul Leonardo Mena (MenaRD) became the only player to have ever won two Capcom Cups, a leading international gaming competition. The event is an annual fighting game tournament focused specifically on the Street Fighter series.
Saul Mena won the 2023 Capcom Cup 2023 with the final Street Fighter V DLC character and semi-protagonist of the upcoming Street Fighter 6, Luke. Previously, he had won the 2017 edition. The win game with a US$120,000 award.
MenaRD convincingly won the Capcom Cup IX, by defeating rising stars EndingWalker and Zhen. He is now the first player to win 2 Capcom Cup titles.
Liquepedia reports that Saul Leonardo “MenaRD” Mena II is a Dominican Fighting Games player currently representing Bandits.
Liquepedia says that Mena first gained attention for himself when he won the 2017 Capcom Pro Tour in 2017. More high placements followed in two Latin American online events (winning one after defeating Mono in final for the third event) and SoCal Regionals 2017 where he finished 4th.
His consistency allowed him to garner enough Tour points to qualify for that years Capcom Cup, at this time known as a Birdie specialist. MenaRD immediately upset the competition at the tournament, defeating Xian, Kazunoko and causing a huge shock by eliminating Daigo Umehara to proceed into Top-8. A convincing win against Itabashi Zangief set up a Winners Final against tournament favorite and 2017 EVO Champion Tokido, whom he lost to in a tight 2-3 set to be sent to the Losers Final. A 3-0 defeat of Nemo set up a Grand Final rematch against Tokido, where he shocked the world by defeating him in two best-of-five sets to become the first Latin American to hoist the Capcom Cup and claim $250,000 in winnings.
As reported, MenaRD invested the money in developing the Dominican Fighting Game and esports communities and forming Santo Domingo Tigers, a Dominican-based esports organization.
Diario Libre reports that in the international media coverage explains how Mena decimated many of the best players in the world and was the only one to win a match over the emerging Chinese Zhen “Rou” Kuang, who dominated the event that came out of the Last Chance Qualifier. The Dominican Republic’s top player beat him twice in a row to seal the deal, taking both sets 3-1 to walk away with the $120,000 top prize in 2023.
Mena has been a dominant force in this type of event for years, and his composure showed true as he made it through the group stage and playoffs with little trouble. Throughout his entire career, Mena has never lost more than one game to any of his opponents, meaning he beat Takamura, EndingWalker and Zhen twice in the final group with room to spare.
“The only salute I’d like to give is to the fighting game community,” MenaRD said after the win last night. “You all are my family. When I won the first Capcom Cup, I didn’t really know anyone. It was all about the Dominican Republic, but now it’s all about you guys now. It’s all about the FGC. Thank you so much,” he said in celebrating his win.
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Diario Libre
21 February 2023