PRIDE Open-Weight Grand Prix Taking Shape

Increasing the number of official fights from three to five for the first round of PRIDE's 16-man Open Weight Grand Prix, PRIDE announced on its Web site Wednesday two additional matches.

Newly-signed Kazuyuki Fujita (Pictures) is slated to face British powerhouse James Thompson (Pictures), and Dutchman Alistair Overeem (Pictures) will have an interesting clash with Brazil's Fabricio Werdum (Pictures).

Three more bouts are needed to round out the field for the May 5 card in Osaka, Japan.

Fight card:
Alistair Overeem (Pictures) vs. Fabricio Werdum (Pictures)
Kazuyuki Fujita (Pictures) vs. James Thompson (Pictures)
Mirko Filipovic (Pictures) vs. Ikuhisa Minowa (Pictures)
Aleksander Emelianenko (Pictures) vs. Josh Barnett (Pictures)
Hidehiko Yoshida (Pictures) vs. Yosuke Nishijima (Pictures)