It is with heavy hearts that we bring you the news that one of the fighting game community’s brightest stars is leaving us. None other than the Beast himself, Mad Catz’ Daigo Umehara, has announced his retirement from fighting games.
One of the genre’s greatest competitors, Umehara’s career has spanned more than a decade, with numerous storied rivalries with players such as Level|Up Series’ Alex Valle and Evil Geniuses’ Justin Wong. It was in a match with the latter in Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike that the now hyper-famous Evo Moment #37 occured.
His other accomplishments include being the first and only back-to-back champion in Street Fighter IV at Evolution as well as winning multiple Super Battle Operas. Additionally, he became an author with his book “The Will to Keep Winning” back in 2012.
As for his future plans, Umehara will be joining Japanese cloud based accounting software provider freee. The company has released the following video, where Umehara discusses how he will transition to the corporate world.
Source: freee via Wario64 and Alex Jebailey