Silva began fighting MMA in Brazil at local shows in 1996. He battled both fellow Brazilians and American imports like UFC veterans Mike Van Arsdale, Adrian Serrano and Eugene Jackson. Wanderlei suffered his only by cut stoppage in an absolute war against Artur Mariano at IVC 2. He made three appearances in the UFC (1-2) losing by a flash knockout to Vitor Belfort and by decision to former UFC light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz.
In 2000 he made a semi-permanent move to PRIDE and has battled the organizations top middleweights. 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-pound submission wrestler) pulled out due to injury and Mark Hunt (a 250-pound kickboxer) was inserted in his place. Not much difference there, huh? Silva, being a true warrior, took the bout anyway and lost a questionable split decision.
YOSHIDA: Judo stylist Hidehiko Yoshida is an Olympic judo gold medalist and World Games gold medalist with over 1,000 judo matches to his credit. He trains with Tsuyoshi Kohsaka and Shungo Oyama and has trained with K-1 fighter and trainer Chris Johnson. Hidehiko has a MMA record of 4-2-1 and makes his 7th appearance (3-2-1) in the PFC.
Yoshida made his MMA debut against Don Frye in PRIDE 23 and won via armbar. He next fought on the Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye New Year’s Eve show and beat K-1 fighter Masaaki Satake in just 50 seconds. He met former RINGS Open Weight Champion Kiyoshi Tamura at the PRIDE Total Elimination 2003 show using a gi-choke.
Hidehiko suffered his first MMA loss to Wanderlei Silva in the Final Conflict of the same 2003 tournament. He then faced Royce Gracie at the 2004 NYE Shockwave show in a rematch of their controversial grappling bout. This time it was under full MMA rules and though most felt Royce dominated the contest, it was ruled a draw. At the 2004 Critical Countdown show, Yoshida submitted kickboxer Mark Hunt via armbar in just over five minutes. And in his most recent bout he battled 2000 Olympic wrestling champion Rulon Gardner. The wrestler, with just a few months training with Team Quest, surprised most with his skills and took a unanimous decision over the judo champion.
MY PICK: Silva. I don’t see Wanderlei wasting much time here. He showed he could grapple with the best and has nothing to prove this time. Yoshida is one of a number of fighters coming into this tournament off a loss (Kondo, Belfort, Overeem, Randleman, Yoshida and Silva himself!) but most of them are still in their prime fighting years. But at 35, Hidehiko is not on the upside of his career like many of them are. I imagine Silva wants to send a clear message to the rest of the field and he’ll knock Yoshida out in the first round.