Another year, another battle for the Evo World Championship in the desert realm of Las Vegas, Nevada!

This time, the title fight was to be waged in March's update edition of Mortal Kombat XL - replete with a years worth of gameplay patches and new characters. One of those Kombat Pack additions, a guest fighter from the film series Alien, played its part in securing a third straight Mortal Kombat World Championship for prodigal son Dominique "Sonic Fox" McClean!

Mortal Kombat's most dominant tournament player confirmed his hattrick against the rising star of a brand new warrior fighting out of Bahrain: Sayed Hashim Ahmed aka;Tekken Master!

TM's mastery over Kotal Kahn and D'Vorah made for a tense two set final, where he reset the bracket with a scintillating 3-1 win coming out of the Loser's Bracket. In that match, his Swarm Queen and War God variations overwhelmed Sonic Fox's Hollywood Cassie Cage and Gunslinger Erron Black. With the pressure on, Sonic Fox utilized the strengths of Acidic Alien, whilst maintaining his iconic use of Erron Black to finish the job in a tense 3-2 title match!

The Tekken Master maintained representation for the world's best players, carrying the global torch alone after last year's three nation podium. 2015 British runner-up Denom "A f0xy Grampa" Jones could only manage equal 9th after a year of ESL promised big things from his rivalry with Sonic Fox. Canada's Hayatei and kept things frosty with their place among the Top 16. Earthrealm's warriors also came from: Brazil, Austria, Colombia, Australia, Chile, Dominican Republic, Poland, France, Bolivia and more!

With an odd numbered bracket challenging all players to qualify for Quarter Finals elimination, there were several byes late in the field. Mortal Kombat Online has stripped those vacancies out to highlight the Top 135 players who fought through double elimination conditions in 2016! There were many dozens of fresh names rising through the list and classic players falling into new positions.

#1 Sonicfox5000 (D. McLean) #2 TekkenMaster (SH. Ahmed) #3 Scar (B. Vaughn) #4 Big D (R. DeDomenico) #5 WoundCowboy (R. Gonzalez) #5 Hayatei (R. Gonzalez) #7 Michaelangelo (M. Lerma) #7 Dragon (R. Walker) #9 A f0xy Grampa (D. Jones) #9 DAB (A. Dabajae) #9 Biohazard (M. Commandeur) #9 ForeverKing (C. Quiles) #13 Honeybee (T. Commandeur) #13 Raptor (W. Lam) #13 BeyondToxin (J. Contreras) #13 Slayer (F. Perales) #33 Trepound (T. Holmes) #33 Blaqkcloud (M. Ulibarri) #33 2EZ (A.J. Pieri) #33 yungmonster12 (T. Gorritz) #33 Boki (B. Jovanovic) #33 JgoonForever (J. Whyte) #33 Vendetta (A. Galvez) #33 ThaTrueNinja (B. Ward) #33 FLK HEMLIT (J. Villarruel) #33 Buffalo (L. Boisvert) #33 JagoBlake (B. Whitworth) #33 Pride (R. Maldonado) #33 Circa Destroyer (J. Ortiz) #33 GRILLZ (L. Nunez) #33 Son_Dula (T. Pinckney) #65 EV8 DR (A. Melvin) #65 TonyJaaBREAKER (A. Malfatti) #65 KHAOTIC_DIGITAL (R. Nichols) #65 oNe87_DJAA (A. Valladares) #65 st9rm (C. Muehlberger) #65 BestNightmare (C. McCord) #65 MrSunshine (J. Ortega) #65 ReconRival (A. Enriquez) #65 HeavyHandz (M. Phelps) #65 385 FTP Yurien (Y. Mendez) #65 Showtime (F. Occhione) #65 Lord Pnut (P. Knauth) #65 CrazySteady (S. Gibbs) #78 Guamo (G. Lacio Jr) #78 MortySeinfeld (M. Camps) #78 RetroTech (E. Martinez) #91 Layec (L.D. Rios) #91 BarterRaccoon (J. Lopez) #91 Krucial KB (K. Bryant) #91 revetleafing (R. Gorritz) #91 TheGabStandard (G. Banson) #91 ChicagoRoyal (C. Maidman) #91 MadeFromMetal (C. Kenyon) #91 TurtleHermit (M. French) #91 WhiteBl4ck (M. Vautor) #91 FADEDSAL (S. Flores) #91 Fatality_89 (G.Malfavon) #91 King Falcon (D. Zeller) #91 CT-DoM (D. Kirton) #91 Soul (C. Lewis) #91 Shade (T. Hutchinson) #91 Krayzie (G. Galdamez) #91 Undertaker (S.A. Saleh) #91 CoolsTorrey (R. Torrey) #91 Slayeredhat (S. Bohannon) #91 Evil Presence (S. Roberts)

#17 WhiteBoi (N. Anderson) #17 Atai (M. Rivera) #17 illmatic (D. Molzen) #17 Cossner (D. Pareja) #17 Star Charger (R. Conley) #17 DJT (D. Terry) #17 iLuusions (R. Luu) #17 Nubcakes (G. Silva) #25 KillerXinok (B. Sousa) #25 Gross (D. Daniel) #25 Han Rashid (E. Rashid) #25 Perfect Legend (C. White) #25 KHAOTIC_REWIND (C. McCall) #25 Shaolin (E. Camarena) #25 Coosco (M. Henderson) #25 Ulver BlueRiver (M. Riquelme) #49 GuiExceptional (G. Sartor) #49 Gooseroni (L. Barela) #49 Tom Brady (B. Menoutis) #49 Syknis (T. Maldonado) #49 Sanix (J. Southerland) #49 Skadoodley (T. Collier) #49 S Faka (S. Ogawa) #49 MIT (M. Terry) #49 sorryk9omg (C. Smith) #49 Kitana Prime (B. Benzing) #49 TRUKINI (E. Martinez) #49 greguu (G. Whitman) #49 Forever King JR (F. Difilippo) #49 Noobe (O. Delisle) #49 ioRoS (I. Martinez) #49 GooGie (M.P. Nguyen) #78 JTB123 (J. Button) #78 Encore (I.M. Brewer) #78 JustinSanDiego (J. Hairgrove) #78 Bandit Keith (C. Robinson) #78 HDG_BorisE (B.G. Erquicia Paredes) #78 Awesomo (E. Martinez) #78 Shujinkydink (E. McDougall) #78 OdinsWrath (J. Keefer) #78 Calvin (C. Spencer) #78 Black Rebel (P. Vasquez) #91 EVB_GoldenJew (C. Robinson) #91 KING$ Alcatraz (L. Pieri) #91 Whistopher (W. Jones) #91 theGUYtatKILLS (E. Marroquin) #91 Domonero (D. Enero) #91 Robbie Rage (J. Smith) #91 Marine (L. Gomez) #91 KeuhlGuy (C. Keuhl) #91 ManieQ (L. Gomez) #91 The Big O (D. Perez) #91 Black Ken (T. Hope) #91 Luminary Cheeko (A. Chico) #91 Fire-Lord (N. Longoria) #91 JStar (J. Jeffries) #91 LeftHand (C. Eagleton) #91 xEuphoringxMK (N. Lopez) #91 BEST MK RAIDEN (M. Marconi) #91 Milky Situation (D. Castro) #91 Malice-of-1992 (J. Montiel) #91 Abyss (J. Cach) #91 Black Ranger (B. Adams) #91 801 Vegeta (J. Sanders) #91 KHAOTIC ARMOR (S. Luna) #91 Enenra (M. Maldonado) #91 Damashi (A. Garcia)

Mortal Kombat Online once again congratulates and commends the players who returned to Evo 2016 to keep the flame of Mortal Kombat alive! Were you among them? Register to share your story and more on the Gameplay & Matchmaking forum! Celebrate the winners by liking & sharing this story via @MK_Online and Facebook.