One pro fighting game player’s reaction to losing at Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves was so dramatic that it’s going viral on social media and already showing signs of becoming a meme.

If you’ve been looking at game-related sections of social media today, chances are you have stumbled across a picture or clip of Japanese player Kazuyuki ‘Kojikog’ Koji, mouth open in a scream and clutching his head, while fellow player Goichi “GO1” Kishida looks on with a mixture of concern and bemusement. A couple of stills were even shared by EVO2025’s official X account.

A story in two parts.#Evo2025 pic.twitter.com/eo2pkg2Psg

— Evo (@Evo) August 3, 2025

The player in question is KojiKOG, an esports pro from Japan who mainly specializes in fighting games like Street Fighter, the King of Fighters and Guilty Gear. This weekend, he took on fellow Japanese player GO1 (Goichi) in the Winners’ Semi Final for Fatal Fury: City of Wolves at the Evolution Championship Series 2025 (EVO2025).

Although GO1 won both rounds (and went on to win overall), the fights were very close. Upon being defeated, KojiKOG clutched his head with his mouth open in a continuous scream worthy of… well, Edvard Munch’s painting The Scream. This dramatic emotional outburst, plus GO1’s bemusement, resulted in a number of meme-worthy shots.

I swear to God I’m not making fun of this dude but NO ONE HAS EVER LOOKED LIKE THEY SUFFERED LIKE THIS IN HUMAN HISTORY pic.twitter.com/JekIbl1F0a

— kayos (@kayos_o) August 3, 2025

KojiKOG eventually snaps out of his losing pose and can be seen chatting to GO1 and tidying up. It is clear from this that he was acting. However, shorter clips on social media have caused some who are unfamiliar with KojiKOG’s antics to worry that he was having a real breakdown.

The End of EVOgelion #EVO2025 pic.twitter.com/Ht0vzmHXd3

— Keith Ace (@Keith_Ace_) August 3, 2025

KojiKOG is known for being a bit of a comedian, often doing his screaming pose and pulling funny faces in interviews (like at EWC2025). His dramatic reaction to losing this weekend was likely a reference to when he previously faced off against GO1 at EVO15. As seen in the video below, he did a similar screaming pose- puzzling the Japanese commentators as his antics weren’t well known back then.

10 years ago, GO1 went to EVO for the first time and won 4 side games—Melty Blood, Dengeki Bunko, UNI, and AQUAPAZZA, beating KojiKOG in the finals

Today, they meet again on the EVO main stage, recreating the ‘leg cutting incident’ meme pic.twitter.com/rfPVn2HJXg

— HiFight(ハイファイト) (@HiFightTH) August 3, 2025

Commenting on this, legendary pro fighting game player Daigo Umehara mused that KojiKOG’s reaction was like a character in the SAW movies having their leg cut off. This is why many Japanese fans colloquially refer to KojiKOG’s dramatic pained reaction as the “leg cutting incident” and the like.

Although KojiKOG lost against GO1 at EVO2025, he came in joint fifth place overall, winning 80% of his matches in Fatal Fury: City of Wolves.

Verity Townsend is a Japan-based freelance writer who previously served as editor, contributor and translator for the game news site Automaton West. She has also written about Japanese culture and movies for various publications.