TOKYO, July 17 — Following the official announcement for August’s PRIDE Middleweight Grand Prix finale match-ups, each of the four remaining 205-pound fighters — Wanderlei Silva, Ricardo Arona, Mauricio Rua and Alistair Overeem — released statements to the press.
WANDERLEI SILVA
After the second-round fight in June I hoped that I would fight Alistair because his striking style and my style will match well in the PRIDE ring. And it will be very thrilling. But after the fan poll it’s decided that I’m fighting Ricardo Arona. I heard that the Japanese fans hope I revenge for Sakuraba against Arona. I always keep this in mind: The most important things for us is to make fans happy, as Sakuraba always says. All the Chute Boxe team members respect Sakuraba a lot, and this time I will teach Arona what the real professional fight is. The result will be pretty much the same as how Quinton ended up. In the final, I’ll probably end up fighting against “Shogun.” I’ll fight him with 100 percent, and I’ll show everybody the Chute Boxe style. Thank you for supporting us.
RICARDO ARONA
Finally I get to fight Silva and I’m very excited. He’s been ducking a fight against me. But there’s no way to escape from me now. In June, Rogerio lost against a Chute Boxe guy, so this time the Brazilian Top Team will become a team again … and beat Silva. It’s time for me (tiger) to eat the champion. I’ll be the champ in August.
MAURICIO RUA
I was already thinking that I’m going to face Arona. But now I heard I’m facing Alistair and I’m happy that he’s my opponent. He’s a striker like I myself, so it’s going to be a very exciting fight. And also we’re both kind of new faces to the world. We’re not only strikers, but also he has some ground skill, too. So I want to prove which fighter deserves to win this whole tournament as a new face of PRIDE. In the final round, I think I’ll face Wanderlei. I respect so much about him, but for the final I don’t hesitate to fight him because that’s our Chute Boxe style. And I hope I win the fight. We’ll put on a great show so please support us.
ALISTAIR OVEREEM
I’m very happy that I’m facing “Shogun” because I was always hoping to fight him. We both have a striking background, but also we’re all-around fighters. So this fight will be awesome fight. Whoever the winner is, the audience is the winner of this Grand Prix. Thank you.