LogFAQs > #960347098

He was played by Raul Julia in the movie and his Japanese name is Vega. To avoid a lawsuit over Mike Bison, they swapped around the names of three of the bad guys. Balrog became Vega, Mike Bison became Balrog, and Vega became M. Bison. M not specified but typically translated as a military title of Major Bison.

Because his stage is set in Thailand, I tend to them of him being of a Thai ethnic background. But it makes sense that be would be a Latino if his "true" name is Vega. It's just something that never really clicked with me until just now. I'm watching a review of X-Men vs. Street Fighter and, apparently, Vega's (M. Bison's) name was left unchanged in all regions.