Sakuraba-Shamrock Among Matches Announced for Oct. PRIDE

TOKYO, Oct. 05 — Dream Stage Entertainment on Wednesday officially announced three more bouts for its October 23 PRIDE "Fully Loaded" event (PPV, Oct. 24, 10 p.m EST), which takes place in Tokyo at the Saitama Super Arena.

Newly announced matches include PRIDE mainstay Kazushi Sakuraba (Pictures) taking on veteran mixed martial artist Ken Shamrock (Pictures); Murilo Rua (Pictures) facing off against Golden Glory's Murad Chunkaiev; and PRIDE newcomer Zuluzinho debuting against Henry "Sentoryu" Miller.

Sakuraba returns to action for the first time since his savage beating at the hands of Ricardo Arona (Pictures) in the recently concluded PRIDE Middleweight Grand Prix. Though there was talk of retirement for the 37-year-old Sakuraba, it's clear he never seriously considered leaving the fight game. The same could be said for Shamrock, 41, a veteran of MMA since before the sport was introduced to the U.S. in 1993. His last appearance in the ring was short, as current UFC middleweight champion Rich Franklin (Pictures) stopped him with strikes last April.

Fight card:
Mirko Filipovic (Pictures) vs. Josh Barnett (Pictures)
Kazushi Sakuraba (Pictures) vs. Ken Shamrock (Pictures)
Sergei Kharitonov (Pictures) vs. Fabricio Werdum (Pictures)
Quinton Jackson (Pictures) vs. Hirotaka Yokoi (Pictures)
Murilo Rua (Pictures) vs. Murad Chunkaiev
Henry Miller (Pictures) vs. Zuluzinho
Makoto Takimoto (Pictures) vs. Yoon Dong Sik (Pictures)