Issue 225

January 2026

Ray Klerck breaks down what happens when Street Fighter logic is mapped onto the UFC elite roster.

When the UFC first started, it was the closest the world had to a Street Fighter game come to life. There were sumo wrestlers, boxing gloves, karate Gis, and massive catch weight classes. For any kid who grew up with blistered thumbs and a pocket full of coins, there were decades of dreaming about the 16-bit characters from our childhood that bled into the reality of the Octagon. In some ways, the era of professionalism and standardized uniforms has eroded this uniqueness, but the intersection of pixels and pugilism got our attention when news broke of a new Street Fighter film, set for release in 2026 by none other than Paramount. While Hollywood assembled an all-star cast, they only nailed one character: Joe, who will be played by Alexander Volkanovski. To ensure that courtesy extends to all players, we bridged the gap between Tinsel Town’s vanity and the UFC’s undeniable reality by mapping the biological and digital code of the film’s cast against the world’s elite fighters. This isn’t about who can don a red Gi or grow a military-grade flat top. It’s a breakdown of the fighting styles and tactical meta in a fun way. So, if the UFC’s roster were to hold a magical arcade joystick that sucked in the fighters like a Space Jam movie, then these would be the ones holding the high scores.

MAX HOLLOWAY: RYU

Ryu is the game’s main protagonist who embodies the eternal challenger spirit and has a legacy that grows with time. That’s the script Max Holloway has followed his whole career, and it’s why he holds the BMF title. He even carries a version of Ryu’s wind-forest-fire-mountain philosophy, as his back is tattooed with Angel and Gargoyle. Max holds the record for the most significant strikes in UFC history, drowning opponents with relentless volume that mirrors Ryu’s disciplined mastery. His health bar is twice as long as everyone else’s, and he is the last of his generation, proving he has all the main character vibes we’re lucky to be a part of.

DRICUS DU PLESSIS: BLANKA 

Hollywood needed a jacked, animalistic savage, so Jason Momoa was the natural fit, but Dricus Du Plessis boasts the arcade physics to match. Blanka is a high-durability monster who uses chaos and unorthodox unga-bunga movements to overwhelm opponents. Sound familiar? DDP also has a Tesla coil for a central nervous system that generates power in ways that defy traditional form. He’s never been knocked out in the UFC, and while he did lose to a Chimaev smother-fest, he almost always goes the distance. These characters’ commonality is their rugby-style ball defense, which they both use to out-survive their opponents. Whatever DDP does next, he’ll remain a fan favorite like Blanka.

ISRAEL ADESANYA: DHALISM

There’s only one fighter who has played the game with the long-arm cheats code enabled. Bollywood sensation Vidyut Jammwal might bring the beads to the big screen, but ‘The Style-Bender’ is the only choice for the MMA version thanks to his ability to manage space and punish impatience. Standing 6’4 with an 80-inch reach, he’s always been freakish for middleweight, but, like Dhalism, that’s allowed him to strike when opponents think they’re outside range. Defensively, the comparisons tighten as both rely on supersonic speed lean-backs, floaty movements, and instant repositioning, backed by 11 feet of potential counter-attack reach.

ISLAM MAKHACHEV: M. BISON

Paramount has cast the creepy David Dastmalchian as this villainous Street Fighter boss, but the UFC already has its own divisional dictator. Just as M. Bison sits atop his empire with an iron fist, Islam Makhachev sits atop the pound-for-pound rankings, looking down on a division he has systematically subjugated to his will. Islam runs sophisticated, clinical software and is the final boss that uses checkmate-level logic to make people feel as if they’re fighting on the hardest difficulty setting. 

ZHANG WEILI: CHUN-LI

Some entries were so obvious they were scarcely worth writing. When Zhang effortlessly hoisted Francis Ngannou we knew she could hold her own in any tournament. In the pixelated world, Chun-Li is a 5’7 weapon with a Lightning Kick that punishes every millisecond of button-based hesitation. Weili has the same biological code, thanks to her switch stance meta and 5.9 strikes per minute that fly through elite opposition. Both fighters prove that if you let them control the pace, you’re already looking at the ‘Game Over’ screen.

PADDY PIMBLETT: DAN HIBIKI

With his 60’s style blonde locks, Paddy has the aesthetic code to run Ken, Guile, or even Joe. While Hollywood chose comedian Andrew Schulz, Paddy is the only fighter with a jovial personality to inhabit Dan Hibiki. In the pixelated world, Hibiki is overconfident and arrogant, so everything Pimblett opponents would say about him. It’s this jokey nature that makes us love him, but it's also what has some people questioning Paddy’s skills. He is a fan favorite who thrives in the chaos, proving that you don't need a pink Gi to be the most entertaining liability on the roster.

COLBY CONVINGTON: GUILE

Paramount hit the jackpot with their Guile body double, Cody Rhodes, but few run all the All-American code more than Colby Covington. He’s painted himself as a MAGA heel, and their physical standings are almost identical, so they make a natural fit, if only Colby would grow a blonde flat top. Both have anvil-shaped durability and an arrogant-rival persona that’s very polarizing. When it comes to fighting, Guile is a ‘charge character’ who waits for you to make a mistake before punishing you, much like Colby, if we ever get to see him fight again. It’s tough not being overly playable.

TAI TUIVASA: E. HONDA

The first sumo wrestler in the UFC was Taylor Wily, who, like Tuivasa, was also of Polynesian descent. E. Honda clocks the scales at 302lb, standing 6’1, but his 6’2 UFC counterpart ‘Bam Bam’ surpassed that to hit 308lb last year. Physically, they’re a near-perfect match. The Hundred-Hand-Slap is a flurry of palm strikes that Honda is famous for, and Tuivasa’s record mirrors this with his 13 professional knockouts, mostly from his high-volume boxing approach. Both share a fun-loving energy when the gloves are off, but when it’s fight time, they are world-class experts at using all of their 300lb to slap the bytes out of anyone’s grill.  

MACKENZIE DERN: JULI

Martial artist Rayna Vallandingham is bringing the technical flair to the on-screen role, but Mackenzie Dern is the undisputed choice to run Juli’s code in the Octagon. The pixelated Juli stands as a 5’4, 108lb assassin who thrives on close contact distance, while Dern is almost there to the digit, standing 5’4 and competing at 115lb. While Juli was genetically enhanced, Dern was forged in the world of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu from age three, becoming a 2x Black Belt World Champ and ADCC winner. Both use their striking to close the distance and drag opponents into a world of suffocating submissions where there’s no escape from the simulation. 

SERGEI PAVLOVICH: ZANGIEF

The big screen tapped Oliver Richters, the 7-foot, 350lb bodybuilder, to play this beast, which is not a bad call, but Pavlovich is running the Sambo-based Russian destroyer code that would crush him. While Pavolich can’t quite physically match the 7-foot Soviet giant, he has the same biological sledgehammer power after holding the record for the longest first-round knockout streak in the UFC. Zangief wrestled Siberian bears, but Pavlovich took a more human approach, training in Greco-Roman and Combat Sambo to sharpen his skills. Both are men of few words, but consistent results that prove being a hulking Russian is a cheat code that never goes out of style.

ALEX PEREIRA: AKUMA

Paramount got a win with the casting of Roman Reigns to play the demonic hidden boss, but the UFC has its own Master of the Fist. In the arcade, Akuma is an emotionless powerhouse, and ‘Poatan’ carries the same chilling aura into every walkout. His death stare is a legendary psychological weapon that you’ll see whether he’s hoisting a championship belt or walking up from a rare defeat. The code comparison is terrifyingly accurate, since Akuma is often considered an overpowered character, and Pereira backs this up with the highest recorded PowerKube punch. His 85% finish rate makes him the ultimate hidden boss demon capable of deleting anyone standing across from him. 

ILIA TOPURIA: VEGA

The masked folk singer Orville Peck is bringing the Spanish ninja’s aesthetics to the screen. ‘El Matador’ has always embraced the high-performance Vega code. In the 16-bit world, Vega is a narcissistic Spanish aristocrat who believes beauty is the ultimate weapon, so he wears a mask to protect his face, and something about this you could believe Ilia would try if given the option. Technically, the comparisons are sharp enough to draw blood. Fast. Acrobatic. Showmen. The deep-seated belief that they’re fundamentally superior to the ugly competition. They both prove that looking suave is another way to be lethal.

CIRYL GANE: BALROG

50 Cent is packing the cinematic swagger for this one, but Ciryle Gane is the only heavyweight who can replicate the high-speed ‘Buffalo Headbutt’ physics of the arcade’s most feared boxer. The pixelated Balrog is a 6’5, 252lb beast, while Gane is also 6’5 and comes in at 248lbs, where he uses his kickboxing-hybrid stance to enter and exit exchanges with the fluidity of a middleweight. Balrog is a disgraced heavyweight banned for his dirty tactics, while Gane copped some of the same flak after his recent eye-poke. Either character would be a sophisticated evolution of the boxer archetype, as someone who could punch your bytes out while looking like they’re dancing on a cloud.  

VALENTINA SHEVCHENKO: CAMMY

Hollywood might have chosen Mel Jarnson, but just as they did with Volkanovski, they could have really nailed the role had they gone with Valentina, who's always run the Cammy code. Cammy is 5’5, 134lb weapon with military training who travels the world. Sound like someone you know? Perhaps a 5’4, 125lb champion with a military mind and skill set that leaves her with a 63% striking defense where she lands every second punch she throws. There’s never been anyone like Valentina, and it’s as if her life is a cosplay of the game’s most lethal female assassin: Cammy.

SEAN O’MALLEY: KEN MASTERS

The movie may have chosen the clean-cut Noah Centineo to play the All-American Champ, but while Ken keeps his Gi pressed and hair in a managed blonde flow, Sean O’Malley is what happens when that same code gets corrupted by a psychedelic software update. Sean started as a wholesome kid from Montana, but he’s smart enough to know game players want a fight persona to cheer for. Ken has flashy kicks, and O’Malley copies with a 61% striking accuracy, which is the highest in bantamweight history. Both of them share high-level gifted intelligence with a big ego and a flair for the dramatic because being the main character on screen is the only way. 

THE JOYSTICK NEVER LEFT

This isn’t nostalgia for pixels, headbands, or cosplay-level callbacks. It’s a reminder that fighting has always been about patterns, archetypes, and repeatable logic. Long before unified rules, performance institutes, and social media personas, fighters were defined by how they moved, reacted, and broke opponents down. Pressure monsters. Counter specialists. Glass cannons. Hidden bosses. Strip the UFC back far enough, and the same character codes still run underneath the gloves. The joystick never left the sport. We just forgot it was in our hands.