Hidehiko Yoshida
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Hidehiko Yoshida (吉田秀彦, September 3,1969-) is a Japanese gold-medalist judoka and MMA fighter. He currently competes in the PRIDE Fighting Championships in Japan.
Biography
Hidehiko Yoshida was born in Obu, Aichi, Japan. He won the gold medal in Judo (78kg class) at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. He is known for his great grappling ability and strong chin, having never been submitted or knocked out in an MMA bout. Yoshida is one of the few fighters who still wears a gi when he fights. His notable victories in MMA include armbar submissions over Don Frye and K-1 champion Mark Hunt (in a twist of fate Mark Hunt went on to overcome Wanderlei Silva, Yoshida´s fiercer adversary to date). In August 2005, he defeated David "Tank" Abbott by submission.Some Brazilian fighters have been nemeses of Yoshida. Each time Yoshida participated in a PRIDE tournament, he lost to the Middleweight champion, Wanderlei Silva, first by unanimous decision at the Final Conflict event on November 9, 2003, and later by split decision at the Total Elimination event on April 23, 2005. Another tough opponent is Royce Gracie, a well-known Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu fighter and winner of the first UFC tournament. In their first encounter, Yoshida won by a controversial referee stoppage; the referee believed that Gracie had been choked out on the ground, thus stopping fight, but Gracie jumped up immediately at the time and was fully conscious. Video replays show that Gracie never tapped out. As a result, Gracie requested for a rematch in which the referee could not stop the fight. The rematch, which took place at PRIDE's Shockwave 2003 event on December 31, 2003, technically resulted in a draw since neither fighter submitted or was knocked out within the time allotted (Gracie spent much of the latter part of the fight attacking Yoshida from a back mount, with Yoshida defending the attacks). The draw, however, can be attributed to a lack of official judging, a stipulation requested by Gracie.
Record
- Judo
- *World Judo Championship 78kg class 3rd place (1991)
- *Barcelona Olympic Games 78kg class winner (1992)
- *World Judo Championship 78kg class 2nd place (1993)
- *World Judo Championship 86kg class 2nd place (1995)
- *Atlanta Olympic Games 86kg 5th place (1996)
- *World Judo Championship 90kg class winner (1999)
- Professional mixed martial arts: 7 wins, 4 losses, 1 draw (as of May 5th, 2006)
- *PRIDE Middleweight Grand Prix Tournament, Semi-Finalist
MMA Record
7 wins (5 submissions), 4 losses (3 decisions), 1 draw|- |Jul 2, 2006 |Loss |Mirko Filipovic |PRIDE Critical Countdown Absolute |TKO (Strikes) |Round 1, 7:38 |- |May 5, 2006 |Win |Yosuke Nishijima |PRIDE Total Elimination Absolute |Technical submission (Triangle choke) |Round 1, 2:33 |- |Dec 31, 2005 |Win |Naoya Ogawa |PRIDE Shockwave 2005 |Submission (Armbar) |Round 1, 6:04 |- |Aug 28, 2005 |Win |David L. Abbott |PRIDE Final Conflict 2005 |Submission (Choke) |Round 1, 7:40 |- |Apr 23, 2005 |Loss |Wanderlei Silva |PRIDE Total Elimination 2005 |Decision (Split) |Round 3, 5:00 |- |Dec 31, 2004 |Loss |Rulon Gardner |PRIDE Shockwave 2004 |Decision (Unanimous) |Round 3, 5:00 |- |Jun 20, 2004 |Win |Mark Hunt |PRIDE Critical Countdown 2004 |Submission (Armbar) |Round 1, 5:25 |- |Dec 31, 2003 |Draw |Royce Gracie |PRIDE Shockwave 2003 |Draw |Round 2, 10:00 |- |Nov 9, 2003 |Loss |Wanderlei Silva |PRIDE Final Conflict 2003 |Decision (Unanimous) |Round 2, 5:00 |- |Aug 10, 2003 |Win |Kiyoshi Tamura |PRIDE Total Elimination 2003 |Submission (Ezekiel Choke) |Round 1, 5:06 |- |Dec 31, 2002 |Win |Masaaki Satake |Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye 2002-K-1 vs Inoki |Submission (Neck lock) |Round 1, 0:50 |- |Nov 24, 2002 |Win |Don Frye |PRIDE 23 |Technical Submission (Armbar) |Round 1, 5:32
See also
External links
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