born August 27, 1976 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
|
| | 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[ Tournoi International] | 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
| align=center| 8-3-1
| Jae Young Kim
| KO (punches and knees)
| Spirit MC 17
[ "Lim Retains Middleweight Title at Spirit MC 17" - Sherdog]
|
| align=center| 1
| align=center| 0:33
|
Seoul, South Korea
|
|-
| Win
| align=center| 8-2-1
| Seung Bae Whi
| Decision (unanimous)
| Spirit MC 16
[ "SPIRIT MC 16 REVIEW & PHOTOS: CLASH OF PRIDE" - MMA Weekly ]
|
| align=center| 3
| align=center| 5:00
|
Seoul, South Korea
|
|-
| Win
| align=center| 7-2-1
| Ho Jin Kim
| Submission (armbar)
|
|
| align=center| 1
| align=center| 3:38
|
Osaka, Japan
|
|-
| Win
| align=center| 6-2-1
| Jung Gyu Choi
| TKO (punches)
| Spirit MC 13
|
| align=center| 3
| align=center| 3:34
|
Seoul, South Korea
|
Heavyweight Grand Prix final
|-
| Win
| align=center| 5-2-1
| Gil Myung Chun
| Submission (keylock)
| Spirit MC 13
|
| align=center| 1
| align=center| 3:29
|
Seoul, South Korea
|
Heavyweight Grand Prix semi-final
|-
| Win
| align=center| 4-2-1
| Dong Woo Shin
| KO (punch)
| Spirit MC 12
|
| align=center| 1
| align=center| 2:18
|
Seoul, South Korea
|
Heavyweight Grand Prix quarter-final
|-
| Draw
| align=center| 3-2-1
| Sojiro Orui
| Draw
|
|
| align=center| 2
| align=center| 5:00
|
Tokyo, Japan
|
|-
| Win
| align=center| 3-2
| Gregory Babene
| TKO (punches)
| Real Rhythm - 5th Stage
|
| align=center| 1
| align=center| 3:36
|
Osaka, Japan
|
|-
| Win
| align=center| 2-2
| Seiki Ryo
| Decision (unanimous)
|
|
| align=center| 2
| align=center| 5:00
|
Nagoya
|
|-
| Loss
| align=center| 1-2
|
Nick Ring
| Decision (unanimous)
|
[ "Ring Ready to Move Forward After Successful Return" - Full Contest Fighter ]
|
| align=center| 2
| align=center| 5:00
|
Tokyo, Japan
|
|-
| Win
| align=center| 1-1
| Ryuhei Sato
| TKO (punches)
|
|
| align=center| 1
| align=center| 3:51
|
Tokyo, Japan
|
|-
| Loss
| align=center| 0-1
| Kazuki Okubo
| Submission (armbar)
|
|
| align=center| 1
| align=center| 4:29
| Nagoya, Aichi, Japan
|
MMA Debut
External links
