Ever see those Facebook reels where Mortal Kombat 1 modders try to dupe strangers into thinking NetherRealm Studios added Shrek and Captain Jack Sparrow to their fighting game to decapitate one another? Something along those lines capped off this year’s figure skating competition at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan as Sub Zero, Deadpool and Kung Fu Panda squared off on the global stage.
Kazakhstan skater Mikhail Shaidorov won the gold in men’s figure skating this year, the first from his country to land that prize. He’s also the first Olympic figure skater, ever, to best the Lin Kuei. During the Exhibition Gala, the closing, non-competitive, often silly segment, Shaidorov came out on the ice dressed like Jack Black’s famed Dreamworks cartoon martial artist. There he danced to Carl Douglas’s ‘Kung Fu Fighting,’ did some friendly sparring with Deadpool and Sub-Zero, before farting on them, the sound effect echoing in the arena of champions.
Awesome performance! Mortal Kombat makes a special appearance at the winter Olympics! @MortalKombat @noobde pic.twitter.com/dD4DVJNIhd
— The Freelancer (@TehFreelancer) February 22, 2026
It wasn’t the only bit of Disney on Ice goofiness this year. Earlier pairs skated to ‘Cotton Eyed Joe’ and the ‘Macarena.’ Georgia’s Luka Berulava, who was the one dressed like Sub-Zero, joined partner Anastasiia Metelkina (dressed like Kitana) for a routine to The Immortal’s famed Mortal Kombat theme. The two ended with the warbled, dazed stance Mortal Kombatants do ahead of having their intestines ripped out.
Needless to say I have never been more confused about IP rights at the Olympic games. Earlier in the week, during competitive performances, chaos brewed as several figure skaters, such as American gold medalist Amber Glenn, struggled to secure the licensing deals to the music used for their performances. This included Spain’s Tomàs-Llorenç, who performed dressed like a Minion. This blurred even more and even stranger when Czech skaters Katerina Mrazkova and Daniel Mrazek skated to an AI-generated song clearly leaning on samples from AC/DC. However the legality shakes out, it’s clear that Fortnite-ification has already spread to the Olympic village.
