Japanese Sagats are on a different level than American Sagats. Also EVO had an abundance of akumas which apparently is the hot character now and is one of sagat’s harder matchups imo.
It all comes down to how you play. I’ve heard people piss and moan about Sagat for sometime now. But that video proved to everyone Sagat isn’t a super hero, he came back with the ultra and still lost.
Those who cry about OP Sagat need to suck less.
The best US players in SF4 don’t use Sagat because the game is balanced enough where you can get away with it.
It’s only in imbalanced games where pros buckle down with top tiers that they might dislike but they do it because they want to win.
This is not necessary in SFIV.