Ryuichi Murata

is a Japanese judoka and mixed martial artist. He was a world-class judo competitor with 5 top-3 Judo World Cup tournament finishes and has won multiple silver and bronze medals at world and national judo competitions. Most recently, he's competed in MMA and currently has an MMA record of 8 wins, 3 losses and 1 draw. He won the Spirit MC Heavyweight Grand Prix tournament in 2007.

Judo career Murata has achieved good success as a judoka. He was second at the world junior championships in 1996. In Japanese national tournaments he has been second once (2000) and third twice (1998, 2001). At World Cup events he won in Tbilisi (2003) and Budapest (2001), finished second at Leonding, Austria (1997), and third in Paris (2000).

Mixed martial arts career Ryuichi Murata made his MMA debut on Pride Fighting Championships Bushido 8 card in 2005. He lost the fight against Kazuki Okubo due to submission. In a post fight interview, Murata stated that he didn't have enough experience to fight well in MMA and didn't feel like he was "able to show much at all" of what he wanted to achieve.

Murata went on to fight on a number of cards with the Deep and Spirit MC MMA promotions. In 2007, he participated in Spirit MC's Heavyweight GP tournament. In the first round he knocked out Dong Woo Shin. He later submitted ChunGil Myung Chun with an armbar to move to the tournament finals. In the finals he earned a technical knockout against Jung Gyu Choi to become Spirit MC's Heavyweight GP Champion.

Judo tournaments Date Tournament PlaceWeight class A-Tournament Tbilisi 1st Half-middleweight (81 kg) Super A-Tournament Moscow 2nd Half-middleweight (81 kg) Jigoro Kano Cup Tokyo 3rd Half-middleweight (81 kg) East Asian Games Osaka 3rd Half-middleweight (81 kg) Japan Judo Championships 3rd Half-middleweight (81 kg) A-Tournament Budapest Bank Cup 1st Half-middleweight (81 kg) Japan Judo Championships 2nd Half-middleweight (81 kg) Tournoi de Paris 3rd Half-middleweight (81 kg) Japan National Championships Fukuoka 3rd Half-middleweight (81 kg) ASKO World Tournament Leonding 2nd Half-Heavyweight (78 kg) World Junior Championships 2nd Half-Heavyweight (78 kg)

Mixed martial arts record Loss

Jae Young Kim KO (punches and knees) Spirit MC 17

Seoul, South Korea Win

Seung Bae Whi Decision (unanimous) Spirit MC 16

Seoul, South Korea Win

Ho Jin Kim Submission (armbar) Deep: Protect Impact 2007

Osaka, Japan Win

Jung Gyu Choi TKO (punches) Spirit MC 13

Seoul, South Korea Heavyweight Grand Prix final Win

Gil Myung Chun Submission (keylock) Spirit MC 13

Seoul, South Korea Heavyweight Grand Prix semi-final Win

Dong Woo Shin KO (punch) Spirit MC 12

Seoul, South Korea Heavyweight Grand Prix quarter-final Draw

Sojiro Orui Draw Deep: 31 Impact

Tokyo, Japan Win

Gregory Babene TKO (punches) Real Rhythm - 5th Stage

Osaka, Japan Win

Seiki Ryo Decision (unanimous) Deep: clubDeep Nagoya: MB3z Impact, Di Entrare

Nagoya Loss

Nick Ring Decision (unanimous) Deep: 23 Impact

Tokyo, Japan Win

Ryuhei Sato TKO (punches) Deep: 21st Impact

Tokyo, Japan Loss

Kazuki Okubo Submission (armbar) Pride: Bushido 8

Nagoya, Aichi, Japan MMA Debut