After making top eight in Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition ver. 2012 at EVO 2012 this past weekend, Daigo Umehara of Team Mad Catz took the time to speak with Rod “Slasher” Breslau about the tournament and the overall level of skill exhibited thus far. While he wasn’t able to take home top honors, he mentions putting every ounce of his focus into AE 2012, bypassing Street Fighter x Tekken because of the lack of a scene in his area.

But, the most interesting part of the interview is when Daigo is asked about the rest of the top eight, as no other Japanese player had made it that far in the tournament. He references his time at CEO 2012, mentioning that he knows first-hand the strength of the American players and that he believes the United States has caught up with Japan in terms of overall skill. Some have said that Daigo may have been sand bagging at events like South East Asia Major and the aforementioned CEO 2012, but he goes on record here that he has put as much effort as possible into each and every match he’s played up to this point.

It’s also noteworthy to point out that neither player in the AE 2012 grand finals was of Japanese or American descent.

Source: Gamespot, tip via Brian B.