Anyone see Hidehiko Yoshida in the last Pride event?...that was some good Judo. Perhaps he should work a little on keeping his hands up though...he ate a few hard shots. He is doing well considering he trains just Judo and fights with a full Gi, as opposed to spandex shorts. The tournament he is fighting in will be in the next level in November w/ just one winner...Hidehiko Yoshida, Rampage Jackson, Wanderlei Silva, and Chuck Liddel from UFC. Any picks for a winner from those who know of the people fighting? Any thoughts on Yoshida's ability to use Judo effectively against mixed martial artists?

Oh yea...for anyone who doesn't know of Yoshida, he is a Judoka who has one Olympic gold and now fights in Pride. His first fight was a controversial win over Royce Gracie: Second fight was an arm-bar to Don Frye: Third fight was a victory, but I don't recall the other fighter: Fourth victory in the last Pride. More info on Yoshida or any other fighter I mentioned @ PrideFC.com.

i think the dude ur talking bout has a great chance against mma, the enormous conditioning and great tecnique allows him to take down the oponent and finnish it down on the ground.
i think he'l have some trouble with silva tho.. vale tudo champion and a very experienced mm artist, very brutal and agressive too.. lets live and see. my money is on silva. [IMG]http://www.fightingarts.com/forums/ubb/smile.gif[/IMG] (sorry)

Morpheus, I agree with you...Silva is one good fighter. Yoshida is doing great though, if he could just learn to keep those hands up he would have a better chance. If he is the one going against Silva I feel he will be overwhelmed by Silva's striking ability. I do feel that Yoshida stands a chance though, although the odds are in Silva's favor. In summary, my hope to win is Yoshida but my honest opinion also says Silva will take it.

Yea... hes too good

and now alot of people think his matches were works.

Ive never seen him fight so I'm not gonna pass judgement. Just informing you what the majority of the MMA community thinks.

Remmeber this is about Yoshida not Judo. So don't take this as offensive towards your art.

Taekwon

Kiwi, no offense taken at all. I completeley agree this is about Yoshida much more than Judo, I just like to watch him because it's awesome to see a Judoka fight in the MMA world. I did mention that his win over Gracie was controversial, and I watched that fight...I did not see Gracie tapout. His other fights I have seen however seemed as legit as possible. Unfortunately, there are now talks that he may not be fighting in the next installment of that total elimination tournament b/c he jacked up his knee pretty bad during his last fight. His doctors/trainers are advising him not to fight b/c the injury should take about 2 months to heal: leaving only 1 month to train. Either way, it should make for some good fights in November.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by immrtldragon:
I did mention that his win over Gracie was controversial, and I watched that fight...I did not see Gracie tapout.[/QUOTE]

As I understand it, Yoshida thought that Gracie was unconcious, and called the ref over to stop the fight - apparently the ref then stopped it without checking Gracie's condition properly (that's the version I heard, anyway). Most of the people I've seen discussing it think Yoshida would have won, but were disappointed that the fight was stopped before they'd have known for sure.

Charles, I agree Yoshida Probably would have won...he had Gracie in awesome position, close to impossible to escape...but if anyone could have escaped it would have probably been Gracie. My opinion is also that Yoshida was just about to win, had they not stopped it yet we would know for sure...now there is just that thought. I'd like to see a rematch. Obviously I like Yoshida...probably only second to Sakuraba...but I would have liked a clear, non-disputable victory.

Actually, anyone interested in seeing the fight between Yoshida and Gracie and forming their own opinions can get the fight here: http://www.judoinfo.com/video3.htm
towards the bottom of the page.

Actually, anyone interested in seeing the fight between Yoshida and Gracie and forming their own opinions can get the fight here: http://www.judoinfo.com/video3.htm
towards the bottom of the page.

I was having a little problem with my back button, sorry if this posts twice.