In 2000 he made a semi-permanent move to PRIDE and has battled the organizations top middleweights and light heavyweights. He has punished Kazushi Sakuraba on three occasions and was scheduled to meet him a fourth time.
Lion’s Den fighter Guy Mezger was knocked out (with help from a head butt) at PRIDE 10 and we missed out on what could’ve been a war when Silva accidentally hit Gilbert Yvel in the groin at PRIDE 11. Dan Henderson gave Silva one of his best challenges to date at PRIDE 12.
Many felt Silva had been “taking it easy” for a few years, padding his record with Japanese opponents and only taking a one tough bout (a draw with Mirko Filipovic at PRIDE 20) along the way. However most of his doubters were silenced when, after defeating Sakuraba for a third time, he beat both judo Olympian Hidehiko Yoshida and American wrestler Quinton Jackson in one night.
He continued his winning ways, knocking out his next three opponents (Ikuhisa Minowa, Yuki Kondo and Jackson for a second time) before the proposed fourth match with Sakuraba. But just days before, Sak (a 185-lb submission wrestler) pulled out due to injury and Mark Hunt (a 250-lb kickboxer) was inserted in his place.
Silva, being a true warrior, took the bout anyway and lost a questionable split decision. Wanderlei rebounded and returned to the ring at the Total Elimination ’05 show handing Hidehiko Yoshida a second loss in another highly competitive bout.
NAKAMURA: Kazuhiro Nakamura is the All-Japan 100-kilo division judo champion and training protégé of Olympic judo champion and world gold medalist Hidehiko Yoshida. He trains out of the Yoshida Dojo under the tutelage of Yoshida and training partner and PRIDE/UFC veteran Tsuyoshi Kohsaka. He also traveled to Brazil to train with Pedro Rizzo and Vitor Ribeiro at Nova Uniao. Nakamura is 6-3 in MMA, all in PRIDE, and he makes his 10th appearance in the PFC.
Nakamura debuted at PRIDE 25 against Rogerio Nogueira. He applied an impressive body lock throw to the floor, landing inside Nogueira’s guard. Late in the first round, Kazuhiro would jump back into guard and strike Rogerio a number of times in the face, avoiding armbars, triangles and even an omoplata in the process. In the second round “Minotoro” never let up, letting Nakamura think he was trying for a choke but maneuvered him into an armbar for the win.
At PRIDE Bushido 1, Kazuhiro was pitted against Daniel Gracie. Early on there were no indications this was judo vs. jiu-jitsu as both fighters were happy to trade on the feet. Although lengthy, the ground battle was more entertaining than most because neither fighter backed down. Nakamura landed the better strikes in the exchanges and took the unanimous decision. Kazuhiro defeated pro wrestler Dos Caras Jr. by decision at PRIDE 27 and submitted Dutch striker Chalid Arrab by armbar at PRIDE Bushido 3.
A rematch with “Minotoro” Nogueira took place at PRIDE Bushido 4 but Kazuhiro lost the two-round decision. At the PRIDE Final Conflict show, he scored a career-making victory over Brazilian Top Team fighter Murilo Bustamante. It was a unanimous decision win and opened the door for a bout with Team Quest fighter Dan Henderson at PRIDE 28. Unfortunately, a bizarre slam caused a serious injury to Nakamura and the bout was over in less than ninety seconds.
Kazuhiro took out K-1 kickboxer Stefan Leko with strikes in less than a minute at PRIDE 29 and then won an impressive unanimous decision over former UFC heavyweight champion Kevin Randleman at April’s Total Elimination show in the opening round of the Middleweight Grand Prix.
MY PICK: Silva. Nakamura has showed true heart and serious skill. He is one of the better Japanese fighters in his weight class but that being said, Silva is a wild man. He likely loves the thought of being fed Yoshida’s protégé with Hidehiko watching from ringside. And Wanderlei only has to fight once that night. This could be ugly. Nakamura isn’t completely outclassed here like Iwasaki, Kanehara or Otsuka were. He has earned the right to fight in this tournament but I don’t feel he is “tournament final” material just yet, especially not when Silva stands in front of him. I feel it will be Silva by KO from knees in the second round.