Echo Fox announced Thursday the addition of fighting game pro Victor "Punk" Woodley to its fighting game roster.
"It happened very organically," said Jared Jeffries, president of Echo Fox. "I got a text he was going to be be a free agent. We reached out immediately. We try to always have the best [fighting game] team in the world and adding a talented kid like him was a no-brainer."
Punk will make his debut under the Echo Fox banner on Friday at the at the NorCal Regionals in Sacramento, the second Capcom Pro Tour event of the year. He'll be competing in Street Fighter V, Dragon Ball Fighter Z and Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite.
"He just brings a different perspective. He's a very confident kid. A lot of our more talented Street Fighter players have been non-domestic, so we really wanted to get a strong player who's domestic -- and he fit the bill," Jeffries added.
Punk saw success early in 2017 with wins at ELEAGUE, DreamHack Austin and the NorCal Regionals. He finished second after losing to Hajime "Tokido" Taniguchi -- who also plays for Echo Fox -- in the Street Fighter V grand finals of the Evolution Championship Series in Las Vegas.
"I feel really good. It's a new start, a new team," said Punk. "I have a lot of friends on Echo Fox, so it'll be a great experience being on this team and playing with them."
And will 2018 see the re-emergence of Punk's famous trash talk?
"Maybe," he said, laughing. "You can't just trash talk for no reason. If I see the opportunity is right, then maybe."
Echo Fox is a North American esports organization owned by former NBA player Rick Fox. The org established its fighting game presence in 2017 after signing players like Justin Wong, Yusuke Momochi, Tokido, Jason "Mew2King" Zimmerman, Jin-woo "SAINT" Choi and Dominique "SonicFox" McLean. Echo Fox made its first foray into esports in 2015 after acquiring a spot in the North American League Championship Series previously occupied by Gravity Gaming.