[4][5][6] Before properly being called a pro gamer[7] from signing a sponsorship deal with Mad Catz,[8] Japanese media usually referred to Daigo as "the god of 2D fighting games" (2D格闘ゲームの神, 2D Kakutō Gēmu no Kami).

[21][22][23] In 1998, at the age of 17 Daigo participated in Capcom's official Street Fighter Zero 3 national tournament and advanced to the finals which took place on a stage in Tokyo Game Show 1998: Autumn on October 11.

The book's content is separated into six chapters chronicling the games in which he competes and includes background stories, anecdotes of competitions, and analysis of his opponents.

[18] In November 2000, 4 months after the B4 Street fighter championships, the top Ranked players from the event Flew out to Shinagawa, Tokyo Japan to play in an exhibition.

[21][33] Throughout his career, Daigo Umehara's main character has been Ryu and his play style based on zoning (keeping the opponent at a specific distance) even though he is also adept in close combat.

Wong attempted to hit his opponent with Chun-Li's "Super Art" move, forcing Umehara to parry 15 attacks in a very short period of time.

Though Umehara lost the grand finals to Kenji Obata, the clip of him parrying Wong's multihit attack became hugely influential and has been compared to famous sports moments such as Babe Ruth's called shot and the Miracle on Ice.

He and four other top Japanese players (Soushihan KSK, Itabashi Zangief, Mago, and Tokido) competed with each other and with celebrities in a Street Fighter IV round-robin tournament.

[10][45] On April 18, at GameStop's Street Fighter IV National Tournament 2009 in San Francisco, California, four players from three countries held exhibition matches following the main competition.

[72] Umehara participated in Capcom's Super Street Fighter IV "Fight Club" launch party in Los Angeles, United States on April 23.

[76][77][78][79][80] The limited edition of Super Street Fighter IV from the e-CAPCOM store included a special DVD featuring two tournaments between Japan's 8 top players: Umehara, Tokido, Iyo, Shirou, Kin Devu, Momochi, Tokidoki Nukings, and Itabashi Zangief.

[81][82] The Super Street Fighter IV Technical Guide published by Enterbrain which was released on April 28 includes a DVD featuring exhibition matches of the new characters played by Japan's 7 top players: Umehara, Tokido, Kin Devu, Iyo, Momochi, Itabashi Zangief, and Shirou.

[89][90][91][92][93][94][95] On June 4, Umehara joined the 106th Xbox Live Park online event held by Microsoft Japan with Famitsu's editorial department.

During the two-hour event, participating Xbox Live Gold members had the opportunity to chat and face off with Umehara in Super Street Fighter IV online matches.

[99][100][101][102][103] After winning the qualifier on May 22,[104] Umehara's team participated in the Super Battle Opera 2010 Street Fighter IV finals on September 19 and won second place.

[115] On April 13, 2013, Daigo attended the New York University Game Center's fourth annual Spring Fighter event as a special guest alongside Seth Killian.

During the Stunfest 2015 final, Daigo managed to pull off an impressive 25-hit combo with Evil Ryu against Ken controlled by Momochi who was the best Ultra Street Fighter IV player of the season according to the Capcom Pro Tour 2015 ranking.

[130] In May, 2016, Daigo appeared in the Street Fighter documentary, "格闘ゲームに生きる" (Kakuto geemu ni ikiru | Living the Game), broadcast on WOWOW.

[137] On December 1, 2016, Red Bull and director Nick McDonald released an eleven-minute documentary on Daigo Umehara entitled, "Mind of a Beast."

[138] On January 19, 2017, Daigo gave a two-hour lecture entitled "1日ひとつだけ、強くなる" ("Ichinichi hitotsu dake, tsuyoku naru"|"Getting Stronger Everyday") at the Keio University Marunouchi City Campus.

[140] On March 1, 2017, Umehara announced that he had entered another sponsorship with Japanese game developer Cygames, alongside fellow pro fighting gamers Darryl "Snake Eyez" Lewis and Eduardo "PR Balrog" Perez.

[144] On June 27, Umehara appeared in the Red Bull France-produced documentary, "The Art of Street Fighting" alongside fellow pro gamers Xiao Hai, Gamerbee, Tokido, and Luffy.

[148] A memorable match took place early in the year when Daigo met his longtime rival, Tokido, in a first-to-ten bout at the Kemonomichi II exhibition.

Tokido, who at this point was the defending EVO champion and one of the most dominant players on the scene, was determined to prove that he could outplay Daigo in a long-set format.

[151] Later on during the year in November, Daigo attended the Red Bull Kumite invitational tournament once again, this time placing 3rd behind Problem X and champion Fujimura.

[155] At the next major tournament Daigo attended, The Mixup, he managed to battle his way through to the Grand Finals where he faced off against Victor Woodley aka Punk, who was dominating the Capcom Pro Tour.

[158] Despite not winning any major tournaments, Daigo's consistent appearance at international CPT events throughout the year was enough to earn him a qualification spot at the 2019 Capcom Cup finals.

There, Daigo was eliminated by Tokido with a score of 3–2 in the second round of the tournament, leaving him with a tied 17th–24th place finish to end the 2019 competitive Street Fighter V season.

With a tough tournament pool featuring Tokido, Problem X, Punk, and numerous other strong players, Daigo only managed a 13th place finish, tied with Bonchan, Gachikun, and Haku.

is a dramatized manga depiction of Umehara's life as a young participant in the Street Fighter arcade scene, and features several noted players from the Japanese fighting game community.