This Dragon Ball FighterZ match is somewhat intense

Think fast. No, faster than that. Sorry, you’re still not thinking with the required rapidity. Dragon Ball FighterZ is a good fighting game that requires quick wits and quick mitts, which is why you’ll never be the best. But this fight between two players at a weekend tournament has some folks in the fighting game community squealing. From an outsider’s perspective, it sure looks like a lot of kicks and punches and firey blasts of focused energy. But to Dragon Ballers, it’s a tour de fisticuffs, a relentless slugfest featuring a tense and impressive comeback from one of the game’s best pugilists.

The fight took place in Daytona, Florida, where punchpros were competing in the CEO Championships, the opening event of a World Tour competition for Dragon Ball Fighter Z. For professionals of cartoon biffing, this was the first big tournament of a 7-month-long competition.

One of the fights was between Swedish player Peter “Leffen” Hjelte, and Japanese player Goichi “Go1” Kishida. This was how it ended:

Now, I don’t know what’s going on here. But years of feigning interest in The Football whenever a taxi driver talks about it has prepared me for this moment. I know something amazing has occurred, judging by the screams of the commentator and crowd. If that doesn’t convince you, some fans are breaking down the match, in particular the final set, which sees Goichi blocking so many hits he may as well replace Donnie Yen for the next Ip Man. At one point he dashes forward and blocks a hit with such ridiculous speed, the commentator can barely believe it happened.

If you want to watch the whole fight, it’s here. Goichi would go on to play in the grand final of the tournament, but in the end was beaten by Ryota “Kazunoko” Inoue, who took the Dragon Ball this weekend (for fans of the anime, the World Tour has a fun twist that only occurs if one player wins all seven tourneys, symbolically collecting all seven “Dragon Balls”. If that happens, they become the final boss of the World Tour).

Anime boxing wasn't the only sport at the Daytona event. A Tekken 7 tournament was also underway, the best moment of which was probably when a Chinese student ducked under a nasty blow from a Brazilian rich kid.