Daigo’s sponsorship moved from Mad Catz to Red Bull

Even if you don’t follow fighting games news chances are you still have heard of Daigo. The EVO champion and celebrity reached stardom for his amazing performance ever since his debut in 1998, and he currently has several books and Mangas talking about his achievements. Today, it was announced that Daigo is leaving the Mad Catz sponsorship and is moving to Red Bull.

Umehara Daigo announced on Saturday (Friday night in the United States) that he had entered an official partnership with Red Bull. While all the details of the partnership were not clear, Red Bull will help Daigo with event and stream production in Japan. The energy drink company will also help bring at least one of Daigo’s books, “The Willpower to Keep Winning,” to the west with an English printing.

The announcement came during the most recent episode of DaigoTheBeasTV, Daigo’s weekly stream. The episode was the first to take place from the Red Bull Japan studio, and the move was accompanied by a significant increase in production value. Daigo had previously worked with Red Bull to host a Street Fighter V team tournament in April, and the two will work together to host another tournament in August.

Mad Catz, Daigo’s long-term sponsor, will retain a partnership with the Street Fighter legend. It is unclear exactly what that partnership will entail, but it will not include the role of sponsoring the player directly. Daigo wore a Mad Catz shirt during the announcement, and Mad Catz was shown as a sponsor of the DaigoTheBeasTV stream during Saturday’s episode.

Daigo’s first tournament under the partnership will be next weekend’s Stunfest in Rennes, France. The event will be Daigo’s first Capcom Pro Tour event of the 2016 season. He will enter the event as the defending champion thanks to his memorable victory over Momochi Yusuke in the grand final of last year’s tournament.