When you haven’t watched the Road Fighter League Americas 2026 Finals, you’re lacking out. It’s — and I say this with full sincerity — a number of the greatest aggressive Road Fighter I’ve ever seen in my life, largely owing to a heart-stopping set between Derek ‘Blaz’ and Noah ‘NoahTheProdigy’ Solis.
Blaz, a 17-year-old Chilean phenom, broke into the scene with a bang when he was simply 14 years previous. At 15, he received second place at Capcom Cup — the world’s best Road Fighter match — and at 16, he secured third place. Throughout this time, Latin America as a area turned extraordinarily robust in Road Fighter 6, with figures like 15-year-old Chilean participant Craime making Prime 8 at Evo Las Vegas this yr and successful the 2026 Esports World Cup for the sport.
LATAM’s power confirmed itself in spades on the Road Fighter League Americas Finals this yr. Blaz and his staff 2Game, made up of gamers from Mexico, Argentina, and Brazil, plowed by means of the competitors, culminating in a wide ranging Grand Finals set that had viewers on the fringe of their seats. Blaz, utilizing Jamie (a wildly underrepresented character in aggressive Road Fighter) and NoahTheProdigy, utilizing Luke, duked it out in an exhilarating back-and-forth brawl that noticed Blaz excellent parry thrice in a row on only a sliver of well being in opposition to Luke’s projectiles.
This set was one thing else 👀
#SFLAMERICAS2026 | https://t.co/QNfS4EB9gS https://t.co/UdgkQtx0JH
— Capcom Fighters (@CapcomFighters) November 9, 2026
It was nothing wanting jaw-dropping, and Blaz — refusing to change to Ryu or Sagat, his normal picks — clutched out the win. After a brief break, Mexican participant Lugabo secured the victory, giving 2Game the comeback they’d been working so arduous for after their third place end final yr.
I received the prospect to talk with 2Game’s expertise backstage within the aftermath of their monumental achievement, the place I requested the apparent query: Why is Latin America so good in Road Fighter proper now?
“I imply, we don’t take something without any consideration,” the staff’s coach advised me. “That’s why. We don’t have as many alternatives as anybody else, and that is why we’ve received to do no matter we will in any potential method to verify we play on the highest stage, it doesn’t matter what. That is why we’re doing every thing we will with any alternative. Lugabo, for instance — that is the third time he is performed offline, and he is already that good. It reveals we now have numerous hidden expertise in Latin America since eternally, not less than for the previous 15 years, however a lot of them haven’t got the chance to journey. So what you are seeing proper now could be what occurs after we get the prospect.”
At 17 years previous, Blaz’s achievements remind me fondly of Victor ‘Punk’ Woodley’s first breakout into the scene again within the early days of Road Fighter V. Now greater than ever, Road Fighter 6 appears geared towards a era of youthful rivals — however for Blaz, it isn’t one’s age or ‘younger man reactions’ that matter.
“What’s vital for Blaz shouldn’t be about age, however particularly about data, expertise, and the way a lot you may get from enjoying,” his coach stated, translating on Blaz’s behalf.
In fact, I needed to ask him about that standout set in opposition to NoahTheProdigy, which has since gone viral throughout the preventing recreation neighborhood and sparked inevitable comparisons to Daigo ‘TheBeast’ Umehara.
“I got here into the Noah match considering it was going to be slightly bit simple, however I used to be slightly bit shocked by how Noah performed,” Blaz defined. “He performed much more centered on stress, and it caught me off guard, however one of many issues that you simply want to have the ability to do at these ranges is to by no means give up. So I did simply that.”
For now, 2Game goes house to proceed their coaching in preparation for the Road Fighter League World Championships at Capcom Cup subsequent yr. I’ve to marvel how Blaz will fare as a person participant at this match; wildly, it makes me contemplate the very actual risk that he might win each Capcom Cup and Road Fighter League below 2Game’s banner. We’ll simply have to attend and see, however it appears that evidently Blaz’s abilities are solely rising stronger by the day. And if his newest efficiency is something to go by, it’s trying extra doubtless than ever that preventing recreation followers are in for one hell of a deal with.