World-famous fighting game champion SonicFox walked out of the 2025 Mortal Kombat 1 Finals before the medal ceremony, saying it was the “worst tournament” they’d ever competed in.
The Mortal Kombat 1 Pro Kompetition Finals took place over the weekend of September 26 – 28 in Mexico City, bringing together the world’s best players to duke it out in a culmination of a months-long competitive circuit that began in January.
Eight-time Evo champion Dominique ‘SonicFox’ McLean was one of the players who had qualified for the Finals during the year. In fact, they even won last year’s MK 1 Finals, and was first in the League’s global standings for 2025.
However, things at the Finals got off to a rocky start. On social media, competitors claimed that the venue was suffering from multiple issues, with heavy rains in the area causing leaks that dripped down on commentators during the stream.
Production problems plagued the stream, with wrong language tracks getting played over casters during their analysis and stream overlays being left up at inopportune times.
On top of that, others reported that issues with seeding forced organizers to reset several brackets entirely, delaying the competition and frustrating players.
However, the most egregious issue took place during one of the biggest matches of the tournament. SonicFox was facing off against Kanimani in the Top 8 when production staff interrupted their fight mid-match to fix an audio problem.
While an innumerable amount of glitches and snafus have happened at esports tournaments throughout history, to stop players mid-game is basically unheard of. The stoppage caused them to restart the set, throwing SonicFox off their game and resulting in a fifth-place finish.
SonicFox refuses medal after Mortal Kombat Finals production woes
McLean vented their frustration on X, calling the Mortal Kombat 1 Pro Kompetition Finals the “worst tournament” they’d ever been to. They even left the building before receiving their medal in protest.
“Bro they really stopped Kani and I mid match to fix audio instead of waiting after the round. I’m actually so over this tournament,” they wrote. “I think that’s the first time I’ve ever genuinely, GENUINELY, been pissed at an event and it killed my momentum entirely.”
“I was biting my tongue the entire weekend, but they have managed to f**k up literally every possible step, from the seeding to the venue falling apart to literally interrupting me and Kani mid-set. At this point, I don’t really care. I just wanna leave.”
Commentator Evan Hashimoto also chimed in, writing of the match stoppage: “They literally broke the biggest rule of competitive integrity, holy sh*t. This is easily one of the worst events of all time. I am genuinely so sad for players and casters.”
Thus far, the tournament has not issued a public response to the backlash, leaving both players and viewers demanding answers. Notably, Mortal Kombat creator Ed Boon was in attendance, but hasn’t yet remarked on the situation either in-person or online.
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