At World Cup events he won in Tbilisi (2003) and Budapest (2001), finished second at Leonding, Austria (1997), and third in Paris (2000).

[1] Ryuichi Murata made his MMA debut on Pride Fighting Championships Bushido 8 card in 2005.

[2] Murata went on to fight on a number of cards with the Deep and Spirit MC MMA promotions.

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.