Lupe Fiasco beat the best ‘Street Fighter’ player of all time in a game that was possibly rigged

The official launch of Street Fighter V was met with one of the most surprising and unlikely outcomes of an exhibition match ever. Lupe Fiasco not only faced off against Street Fighter legend Daigo Umehara, but he won.

Lupe’s win has prompted many to think the match was predetermined. Honestly, it’s hard to tell. Daigo did not play at all like himself in the opening rounds of the best-of-three series. He’s known as a player with an innate understanding of mechanics and mind games, and yet he threw out unsafe moves regularly -- knowing they could be punished. This flies in the face of his typical footsie game that baits his opponent and punishes them. If anything, Daigo has been criticized for being too conservative in the past -- which is nothing like how he played against Lupe.

There was a distinct change in Daigo’s play style in the late rounds after Lupe has a lead, but by that point he’s already too far behind. Daigo thought the series was a best-of-five, but found out after losing that the series was over and Lupe was the victor.

Was this a monumental PR stunt or one of the most surprising victories in Street Fighter history? Time will tell, but Lupe is excited.