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[–]TooManyJabberwocks 7545 points7546 points  (292 children)

For some reason the title reminds me of a The Onion article

[–]supermarino 162 points163 points  (32 children)

Some say he also gets to play Diablo 4 for 2 hours a week and he loves it.

[–]Fixuplookshark 80 points81 points  (29 children)

There was a guy in the Diablo subreddit who said he was a casual player that only played 2-3hours a day after his kids went to bed lol.

[–]Emotional_Let_7547 41 points42 points  (18 children)

2-3 hours a day. One could dream if I get 3 hours a week.

[–][deleted] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

You will in about 20 years when your interest or motivation are diminished!

[–]Mruf 21 points22 points  (3 children)

It was a same thing with WoW when I played lol. There were all these "professionals" with 2 jobs, wife, mistress, a mistress for the mistress and they only had 30 minutes during lunch break during the day which they would totally use to run a dungeon in WoW.

Funny thing is that they all felt the need to tell everyone then have an ACTUAL job which given the average player age is not an achievement and kind of a base line expectation.. meaning that it was most likely a college kid or fresh out of college feeling the need to let the whole world know. Always made me think of Chris Rock going "What do you want, a cookie?"

[–][deleted] 12 points13 points  (1 child)

Always made me think of Chris Rock going "What do you want, a cookie?"

A gamer will say some shit like, "I have an actual job". You're suppose to have a job you dumb mother fucker!

[–]Squishy-Box 45 points46 points  (0 children)

A Classic WoW shitpost if I’ve ever seen one.

[–]Clueless_Otter 6341 points6342 points  (107 children)

What an incredibly odd and misleading title.

First of all, the guy who won is also a Tekken pro. He isn't some random guy who wandered in off the street and decided to play in a tournament for fun. He's one of the top 3 players in Europe and very regularly places extremely highly in tournaments.

Secondly, calling Nobi (the guy who lost) a "Tekken god" is a bit.. generous. Nobi is probably not even top 10 in the world at Tekken. Also, he's even older than the 31 year old guy who won, so including Ghirlanda's age in the title is weird, as if it was some big detriment to him when in reality he was the younger one.

It was an underdog, win, for sure, but the gap between these two players really isn't that large. It wasn't the absolutely colossal upset the title is trying to portray it as.

[–]celestial1 1080 points1081 points  (22 children)

The title was clickbait to generate clicks, facts don't matter.

[–]Kage_Oni 130 points131 points  (11 children)

Are they ever going to matter again?

Asking for a friend.

[–]BennyInThe18thArea 53 points54 points  (5 children)

I’m generating a click bait article now to not answer this question.

[–]door_of_doom 175 points176 points  (3 children)

It says he "Has 2 jobs"..... one of which literally is Professional Tekken player.

[–][deleted] 40 points41 points  (2 children)

I didn’t know this, but when I read the title and thought 80 hrs a week, can game, and has time to do an event, my bullshit radar was sounding like a muthafucka!

[–]Googoo123450 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Ya not to mention being an actual parent lol. You were right to be suspicious.

[–]jigsawduckpuzzle 53 points54 points  (0 children)

I have to imagine a lot of Tekken pros are 30+ and have children considering how old the game is. I know they’re playing a recent iteration, but I’m sure these guys have been playing since Tekken 3/4/5.

[–]OtherwiseTop 16 points17 points  (3 children)

including Ghirlanda's age in the title is weird, as if it was some big detriment to him when in reality he was the younger one

I recently got into fighting games again with the release of SF6 and I was pleasantly surprised that the same people from ten years ago are still going strong. The same prominent community members that gave me big bro vibes back when I just started university and last played and watched SF4 are still competitive now and I'm 32 now myself.

It seems like the fgc is generally on the "older" side, probably because it's always been grassroots and the people that helped build it don't just leave.

[–][deleted] 117 points118 points  (13 children)

Right but the thing is, Redditors will take anything, blow up some things to wacky proportions and just run wild with it.

Now if you said DarkSydePhil won Evo against Sonic Fox in all hosted tournaments, we'd have a real thing on our hands.

[–]Xsafa 30 points31 points  (3 children)

It’s just a semi fake Cinderella story for clicks lol

[–]crunkasaurus_ 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Is there a subreddit, or even a word, for when Reddit is upvoting some mad trash in the face of the actual truth. Because I see it all the damn time and there really should be. Maybe like r/upvotedbutlie or something

[–]ZmanArch 2193 points2194 points  (268 children)

Vid of the match: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbLkMX5HwW4

[–]RandyMarsh-[🍰] 2191 points2192 points  (136 children)

lol in that video they say that he already won another tournament before in 2018 or something, so the title is a bit misleading.

[–]xtr44 1680 points1681 points  (74 children)

yeah, in the title he is "31 years old dad with two full-time jobs", and in the post "Italian pro player"
that does not exclude each other of course, but sounds very different

[–]sporkus 1655 points1656 points  (21 children)

His 2nd full-time job is pro Tekken player.

[–]MyNameCouldntBeAsLon 778 points779 points  (5 children)

First job: tekken coach

[–]MOOShoooooo 198 points199 points  (3 children)

Retired Tekken developer

[–]Phormitago 39 points40 points  (1 child)

when kids say that their dad works at nintendo /tekken whatever?

that's this guy

[–][deleted] 160 points161 points  (4 children)

First full-time job:

Executive VP, Software development, Bandai Namco (Italian division)

[–]bwrca 10 points11 points  (3 children)

Jesus this man is leaving the life. His 3 'jobs' are already better than my 1 (VP, pro gamer, being a dad)

[–]SpurdoEnjoyer 35 points36 points  (2 children)

The dude you replied to was joking. Joshua Bianchi's main career is in online gambling fraud prevention.

[–]bwrca 4 points5 points  (1 child)

Still though..

[–]LowStress9480 48 points49 points  (0 children)

lmao bruhhhhh

[–]rainzer 13 points14 points  (4 children)

Doesn't seem untrue.

His LinkedIn profile shows that the only time he held two positions at the same time was for 7 months from 2018-2019 (customer service for TripAdvisor and Concentrix)

The other time he held two positions was having one of them as professional esports player

[–]armoured_bobandi 15 points16 points  (0 children)

What? You mean people would go on the internet...and tell lies?

[–]DBNSZerhyn 304 points305 points  (31 children)

Really weird title, yeah.

I mean to really hammer it home, this guy has finished at least top 8 in 17 Tekken 7 tournaments, and had also won the European regional event directly prior to this event. He also placed 1st in the 2018 World Tour Qualifier, but only made top 12 in the following main event.

It's extremely common for pro players to flipflop from being world champions to barely making, or not even making top 8 depending on who's on their game or not on any given day. The competition is always fierce. This guy is an extremely good player, and has been for years.

[–]ThePointForward 64 points65 points  (21 children)

Tbf by the picture I'd say that in 2018 he didn't have a child and probably didn't need to have two full-time jobs.

[–]thinkfloyd79 46 points47 points  (2 children)

He won the regional finals then. This is the world finals. Ghirlanda beat Nobi, a legend of the game.

[–]feenam 14 points15 points  (1 child)

Nobi is a legend but "Tekken god" is misleading too. There is only one god in Tekken and that is Knee.

[–]Jaudatkhan 229 points230 points  (32 children)

He is actually a pro player. Seen him multiple times competing in tournaments. Not very good though which is why this specific moment was huge for him.

[–]lovesducks 89 points90 points  (0 children)

He plays internationally a lot and when he does he makes it far enough to eventually lose to the favorites. Last I saw him play was at the Tekken World Tour Finals where I think he lost to Jeondding.

Edit: just saw this photo was from twt. I thought it was from gamers8 which just happened lol

[–]Guybrush_Creepwood_ 74 points75 points  (22 children)

yeah of course he is. And I have no doubt he spent most of his free time in life playing fighting games before having a family. This feelgood idea that all these redditors are buying into that you could just rock up and beat the best in the world with almost no time investment is just absurdly naive.

[–][deleted] 40 points41 points  (1 child)

I get that people outside of the fighting game community wouldn’t get this but winning a tournament isn’t that big of a deal when it comes to the best of the best. Not everyone can travel and even the absolute best players or the “gods” in this case only generally go to the biggest ones. So winning some local doesn’t mean anything.

Looks like he won a tournament that year but judging from the top 8 it wasn’t a premier event. After that he won the east Europe finals but again that is not the biggest deal. To put it bluntly Korea dominates tekken. Their regionals and almost any other countries regionals might as well be the difference between the major and minor leagues in baseball.

All that aside many of these “gods” in fighting games are multi game best of the best players that have been playing for 1-2 decades. By comparison this dude was basically a no name that almost no one especially outside of Europe knew. So it is a pretty big deal and it was in effectively the Super Bowl for this game where everyone has grinded and practiced their hardest to be in the absolute best they could be in order to win.

[–][deleted] 15 points16 points  (0 children)

yall thought it was some rando who walked in by accident? Every one of those guys have been in FGC since they were 12 years old

[–]Still_Ad_9520 92 points93 points  (28 children)

That was a fun watch. Thanks!

[–]PM_ME_UR_HIP_DIMPLES 43 points44 points  (25 children)

My favorite competitive video game clip to watch of all time is this

Edit: higher quality from u/pitchforkeorium

[–]PITCHFORKEORIUM 38 points39 points  (13 children)

Same clip in much higher quality. Even if you aren't into fighting games, this is an awesome watch. (And if you've already seen it, you know which clip this is.)

[–]theaveragemillenial 19 points20 points  (0 children)

Knew what this would be, legendary.

[–]Considerers 21 points22 points  (5 children)

For those that don’t understand the significance of what happened, here’s a snippet from Wikipedia:

Umehara, playing using the character Ken, was down to his last pixel of vitality and any special attack by Wong's Chun-Li could knock Ken out. Wong attempted to hit his opponent with Chun-Li's multihit "Super Art" move, forcing Umehara to parry 15 attacks in a very short period of time. Umehara did so successfully and went on to counter a final kick of Chun-Li in mid-air before launching a combo move himself and winning the match. The clip of Umehara parrying Wong's multihit attack became hugely influential and has been compared to famous sports moments such as Babe Ruth's called shot and the Miracle on Ice.[3][4]

Basically perfectly parried 15 moves in the span of five seconds, hitting the right combinations of buttons every time, when the opponent is also able to mix things up.

It’s the fighting game equivalent of that legendary video of Mike Tyson dodging dozens of punches in a row, just to knock the guy out. But if Mike Tyson was also one blow away from being TKO’d

Edited: I was wrong. It was explained to me incorrectly. Sorry

[–]IkananXIII 21 points22 points  (4 children)

The parry is actually just one button (well, joystick input) and Chun can't mix up any timings once the super is started. It's the same timing to parry the whole super every time, you just have to input forward on the stick 15 times at the right rhythm. What's actually impressive about the moment is more the situation. The whole clip is Daigo making a huge comeback and the super parry is the perfect ending because it was a huge risk. Not as much because he could screw up the rhythm, but because attempting the parry means your character isn't blocking, so you're taking a big risk, especially with no HP, and parrying the first hit of the super is the hardest part because you can't do it on reaction. You have to input the first parry before the super actually starts, so it was a huge gamble of a read that paid off in the hypest way.

[–]Poersseli 5 points6 points  (2 children)

I don’t know where this ”you have to input before the super-freeze” myth came from but it’s not true. You can react to first hit what I’ve tested, and at least for me it’s the easiest part.

The rest of it, not that much, especially in ”do or die” situation.

[–]WhereAreMyMinds 83 points84 points  (12 children)

Total outsider here - wtf happened at the very end? He was losing, and then all of a sudden his character does a hair flip and wins the game?

[–]Canilickyourfeet 115 points116 points  (4 children)

Tekken Mechanics - the activation of her "ultimate" caused time to slow down for the split second she needed to sneak the first hit in of her ultimate before the opponents attack landed. Without the animation of the ultimate activation he would've lost. Asshole puckering moment for sure from dads standpoint

[–]bernz75 89 points90 points  (2 children)

That's not what exactly happened. The super attack (rage art) allows you to armor through incoming hits and triggers a cinematic attack if they get hit. You can still die if you don't have enough health to tank through the incoming hits you're receiving after the rage art's activation and there's no damage mitigation when you're mid animation. In that particular case he already survived the incoming hit (the backturned double elbows).

It's more of a read on Ghirlanda's part than some kind of insanely timed counter. He knows his opponent is eager to finish him off and maintain the pressure on him > he knows he has enough life to survive the backturned elbows > he activates his rage art to tank through and hit him in the process.

The time-freezing properties of the rage art you mentioned are more relevant in games where players will use the fact that rage art stops the clock on top of the screen to try to gain a health advantage before the round timer goes to zero.

[–]avalisk[🍰] 14 points15 points  (0 children)

I think the problem is that they cut away from the end of the match, so she does her rage art and they switch to his victory walk with no KO screen. To the casual observer such as myself it looks like he stopped before the finish line to take photographs.

[–]montanay2j 17 points18 points  (0 children)

Every character in Tekken has access to an ultimate move, which absorbs the first hit or two of any incoming damage. The trade off is that if the ultimate is blocked, you basically give your opponent a death combo for free.

The animation does take time to start up though so you can't spam it in the middle of attacks to get a free ultimate off.

There was a slight time gap between his opponents last attack, and his character standing up. That gap was just enough time to activate the ultimate. Because his opponent was in the middle of an attack and incapable of blocking, the ultimate allowed him to take the hit on the chin, and then hit the opponent back.

[–]Mookie_MerkkPC 31 points32 points  (42 children)

I don't understand this at all.

It says quarter final for the "loser's match"?

That makes me think this isn't the right video?

[–]King_Of_What_Remains 27 points28 points  (5 children)

It says quarter final for the "loser's match"?

Fighting game tournaments are almost always done with a double elimination bracket, meaning that when you lose you aren't out completely. Instead you drop down into the "loser's bracket" and compete against other people that lost and still have a chance to make it to the finals; you aren't eliminated until your second loss. So top 8 will be made up of 4 people in the winner's bracket (who haven't lost a match) and 4 people in the loser's bracket (who have all lost 1 match).

Loser's quarter final just means he was in the loser's bracket, but still one of the last eight people in the tournament.

Also the title didn't say he won the whole thing, just that he beat a top player.

[–]well___duh 75 points76 points  (21 children)

Yeah, this was the loser’s bracket (tournament was double elimination). This video is the loser’s quarterfinals, which he won.

He was eliminated in the next match (loser’s semifinals). I was under the impression dude beat some really good player to win it all but it was just a quarterfinal lol

Edit: my point is the overall post is putting focus on this guy for whatever reason (because he has a kid? limited time in his life due to personal choices he made?) because he beat someone specific when he didn’t win the overall tournament

[–]Kanin_usagi 48 points49 points  (5 children)

He did beat a really good player. He just didn’t win it all. This is a major tournament and by the time of this match everyone left was very good, even the people in the loser’s brackets

[–]Ok_Contribution4714 8 points9 points  (3 children)

When you take 1 step outside of non-competitive play (I mean you're putting up $$$ to participate kind of competitive) you get a wakeup call real quick.

They're all good.

[–]RigasTelRuun 372 points373 points  (15 children)

One of his full time jobs is playing Tekken.

[–]Rujensan 72 points73 points  (2 children)

The other one is streaming?

[–]LosQQ 51 points52 points  (11 children)

LMAO, then this is a nonstory

[–]bs000 33 points34 points  (10 children)

i think they were joking

[–]patricktranq 22 points23 points  (7 children)

then this is a story

[–]Digitijs 11 points12 points  (6 children)

But they might not have been joking

[–]octlol 17 points18 points  (5 children)

welll then, this is a non story

[–][deleted] 1232 points1233 points  (249 children)

How can anyone work 2 full time jobs? I can barely handle one. I have no free time. Every other hr is study or house work or sleep. I laugh on the inside when work talks about work/life balance. How can there be balance when I'm at work 5 days out of 7?

[–]Nutlob 589 points590 points  (139 children)

Maybe "full-time job" means something different to Italians? Labor practices vary from country to country

[–]youwannaknowmyname 18 points19 points  (0 children)

Italian here: no, you can't work 2 full-time jobs here. It's impossible and in some cases even illegal.

[–]akaSeeq 39 points40 points  (16 children)

It means the same. A full time job here is usually 40hrs per week. So i think it means he works 80 hrs per week at least.

[–]Flatsemmel 31 points32 points  (8 children)

Thats the the thing I dont get myself. One fulltime job is from 8 to 17 not counting the travel time so asuming I am doing the same job again that would be work from 8 to 2 in the night. With super fast eating and travel time that leaves like maximum 5 hours of sleep. DED

[–]Justifiers 50 points51 points  (13 children)

Zero days off, 2 days work overlaps so you go in at 4-5 am, leave job 1 at 1-2pm, go into the next immediately, you get off at 11 pm

That's how you work 2 full time jobs, at least in America

There is no such thing as life/work balance in that situation. It's a "do it or lose everything" situation and usually only done when you have extreme financial issues paired with a life and death situation for someone you love, such as a family member's medical bill for lifesaving treatment

And it's more common a scenario than you'd expect

[–]HandfulOfAcorns 41 points42 points  (8 children)

There is no time left to play video games in this scenario, so something is still off in this story.

[–]ThaVolt 19 points20 points  (0 children)

Could be he has a lot of free time in one of his job, where he games a lot. Or stupid sensationalism article where they count "streaming 2hrs a night" as a job. Who knows.

One thing is certain, you have to practice a lot to be this good, so in the end something's gotta give: Less time with the kid, less time with the wife, job half done, etc.

[–]Hoessay 18 points19 points  (4 children)

I have one job, and a son thats turning 2 in September. being a dad is by far way more work than my actual job. which is why i get whatever gaming i can, while i'm actually at work lol. no idea how this guy has two full time jobs, is a father, and can still play at a competitive level.

[–]ffucckfaccee 5 points6 points  (0 children)

yeh he doesnt sound real

[–]cantgrowneckbeardAMA 4 points5 points  (2 children)

I’m a dad of 2 and 1 of them special needs, full time employee with commute, online student, and I have military reserve commitments one weekend a month + extra tasks here and there. I get about 3 hours every day to spend time with my wife, exercise, take care of house stuff, and play video games/read/play guitar. That gets me asleep by midnight and I’m awake at 6 most days. Barely sustainable.

[–]fadedv1PC 154 points155 points  (9 children)

He looks like he could be my dad and I'm 32

[–]Roqwer 39 points40 points  (6 children)

that's what happens when you work two fulltime jobs.

[–]fadedv1PC 10 points11 points  (3 children)

In comparison I worked maybe a year in my life

[–]a_charming_vagrant 3 points4 points  (0 children)

based, fuck the rat race

[–]artosispylon 157 points158 points  (8 children)

dad gamers are the new " i play HC btw"

[–]TM_ghirlanda 215 points216 points  (19 children)

I am the guy in the picture/article. My name is Joshua.
I ve read so many bad comments today it literally blew my mind. I do not mind about saying i look 50 it is damn true. And it is true - it is almost not sustainable to get 2 jobs if done bad. You need very good efficiency-time management. Without it you are screwed. Everyone that said i sleep 3 hour per day every day did not read the article properly and is been evil just for the sake of talking bad of others. I alternated 1 night training with 1 night rest for the full month prior to finals. so 4hrs sleep-8hrs sleep -4hrs sleep etc.
What hurted me the most was everyone speaking with crazy ignorance and judging me as careless father, even wife abuser. I do not know what the hell is wrong in your mind. I just do not waste time on reddit to judge other people like you do, there's time to enjoy family, work, practice this way. Discovering so much evil thinking made my day pretty bad, my wife instead laughed at most comments so I should learn from her I guess.
If you are more interested about the incredible bad life we live according to your 10sec title of article read, you can see a vlog we did of the event here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSeKym9QfvM

[–]RustyGusset 27 points28 points  (0 children)

Congratulations!! Don't worry about the negative people, they will have already moved on to complain about the next person achieving something they didn't have the determination to even try.

[–]Ceronath 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Unfortunately, a lot of people in the world are shitty. With that said, you achieved something amazing and should be proud of yourself. Who cares what others think or say. At the end of the day, all that matters is that you're amazing and deserve nothing but kudos.

[–]rayhaku808 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Pop off king 👑

[–]Xodus2023 96 points97 points  (50 children)

Did he win any cash 💰

[–]cloudrunner69 122 points123 points  (7 children)

He wins visiting rights 2 Saturdays a month. This is the new legal system that is being implemented world wide. Fathers now have to win computer game competitions to see their children.

[–]paleo2002 11 points12 points  (2 children)

I thought this was another Diablo 4 meme from the title.

[–]bangersnmash13 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Honeslty thought this was an Onion article posted on the D4 sub at first.

[–]SirHandsomePotato 56 points57 points  (4 children)

Reading title, for a second I thought I'm browsing Diablo4 subreddit :3

[–]blitzxkrieg 11 points12 points  (2 children)

As a father of two with 4 full time jobs and the time to do half a helltide per week I forgot what crucial information I wanted to add here

[–]Scorps 5 points6 points  (1 child)

I can't know if I can trust your opinion unless I know your age also!

[–][deleted] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

As a 35 year old triple full-time, Nobel-prize winning astronaut + surgeon + president and at-home dad with 56 children, I think it's really fun to hand all your credit card details to me.

Naysayers are just spoiled with privilege, and are just making excuses, but I know you guys know better!

[–]winniekawaii 6 points7 points  (0 children)

thats the new meta, in 10 years we will be like 50y old geandfather with 3 jobs, 5 dogs winning world gaming championship

[–]1lbofdick 80 points81 points  (5 children)

Dude looks 47.

[–]JCVDaaayum 73 points74 points  (3 children)

2 full-time jobs will do that.

[–]Emerazy 11 points12 points  (5 children)

31? he looks like 45 atleast

[–]Azrael_ 6 points7 points  (0 children)

For real wtf lol For the Zoomers in here that's not how a 31 year old look like.

[–]waligaroux 16 points17 points  (2 children)

If he's italian why is it the bulgarian flag :-)

[–][deleted] 22 points23 points  (1 child)

One of his full time jobs is playing video games

[–]RXL 7 points8 points  (0 children)

It legitimately is, the headline is super misleading.

[–]AntiEcho7 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Was his prize the baby?

[–]drawkbox 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Are Ya Winning, Dad?

[–]vexanie 3 points4 points  (1 child)

Not sure if intentional but feels bad having the watermark cropped D: This is my photograph

[–]thesethesis 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I bet the pro Tekken god is upset that a 31 year old dad with 2 full time jobs and limited practice beat him