PRIDE Announces Wanderlei Silva vs Hidehiko Yoshida

TOKYO, Japan – One match up and two additional fighters have been announced for PRIDE FIGHTING’S 2005 Middleweight Grand Prix … TOTAL ELIMINATION 2005.

The first announced match for the opening round will feature defending 2003 Grand Prix Champion, Wanderlei Silva, taking on Japanese Judo star Hidehiko Yoshida. The two originally met in the semi-finals of the 2003 tournament in which Silva won a hard fought decision over the former Judo Olympic gold medallist.

Added to the previously announced eight fighters will be two Americans … Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Dan “Hollywood” Henderson. Jackson reached the finals of the 2003 tournament, eventually succumbing to Wanderlei Silva in one of the most memorable bouts of the year. Since then, the native of Memphis, Tennessee has gone on to defeat Ikuhisa “The Punk” Minowa, Ricardo Arona, and Murilo “Ninja” Rua. Team Quest’s Henderson is making his Grand Prix tournament debut. Always among the elite in his weight class, “Hollywood” is coming off of wins over Yuki Kondo, Kazuhiro Nakamura, Murilo Bustamante and Shungo Oyama.

Tournament Participants:
Wanderlei Silva
Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
Quinton Jackson
Igor Vovchanchyn
Kazushi Sakuraba
Dan Henderson
Mauricio Rua
Yuki Kondo
Hidehiko Yoshida
Kazuhiro Nakamura

Tournament Matches:

Wanderlei Silva (Brazil) vs. Hidehiko Yoshida (Japan)

Additional tournament participants and match ups to be announced soon.
(Participants and Matches Subject to Change)
PRIDE FIGHTING’S 2005 Middleweight Grand Prix Tournament will span three events … TOTAL ELIMINATION (opening round), CRITICAL COUNTDOWN (Second Round) and FINAL CONFLICT (Semi-Finals and Finals). Dates for the latter two events will be announced soon.

TOTAL ELIMINATION 2005 takes place on April 23rd, 2005 from the Osaka Dome in Japan and premieres on North American pay per view via iNDEMAND, DIRECTV, DISH NETWORK, UrbanXtra, TVN1, VU!, and Viewer’s Choice Canada on April 23rd at 10:00pm EST, 7:00pm PST (including a countdown show at 9:30pm EST, 6:30pm PST). For additional replay times, please contact your pay per view provider or pridefc.com.