Hidehiko Yoshida

Hidehiko Yoshida (吉�"�秀彦, September 3,1969-) is a Japanese gold-medalist judoka and MMA fighter. He currently competes in the PRIDE Fighting Championships in Japan.

Biography

Hidehiko Yoshida was born in Obu, Aichi, Japan. He won the gold medal in Judo (78kg class) at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. He is known for his great grappling ability and strong chin, having never been submitted via a submission hold or knocked out in an MMA bout [as of July 2nd, 2006]. Yoshida is one of the few fighters who still wears a gi these days when he fights. His notable victories in MMA include armbar submissions over Don Frye and K-1 champion Mark Hunt (in a twist of fate Mark Hunt went on to overcome Wanderlei Silva, Yoshida´s fiercer adversary to date). In August 2005, he defeated David "Tank" Abbott by submission.

Some Brazilian fighters have been nemeses of Yoshida. Each time Yoshida participated in a PRIDE tournament, he lost to the Middleweight champion, Wanderlei Silva, first by unanimous decision at the Final Conflict event on November 9, 2003, and later by split decision at the Total Elimination event on April 23, 2005. Another tough opponent is Royce Gracie, a well-known Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu fighter and winner of the first UFC tournament. In their first encounter, Yoshida won by a controversial referee stoppage; the referee believed that Gracie had been choked out on the ground, thus stopping fight, but Gracie jumped up immediately at the time and was fully conscious. Video replays show that Gracie never tapped out. As a result, Gracie requested for a rematch in which the referee could not stop the fight. The rematch, which took place at PRIDE's Shockwave 2003 event on December 31, 2003, technically resulted in a draw since neither fighter submitted or was knocked out within the time allotted (Gracie spent much of the latter part of the fight attacking Yoshida from a back mount, with Yoshida defending the attacks). The draw, however, can be attributed to a lack of official judging, a stipulation requested by Gracie.

Record

*Judo
**World Judo Championship 78kg class 3rd place (1991)
**Barcelona Olympic Games 78kg class winner (1992)
**World Judo Championship 78kg class 2nd place (1993)
**World Judo Championship 86kg class 2nd place (1995)
**Atlanta Olympic Games 86kg 5th place (1996)
**World Judo Championship 90kg class winner (1999)
*Professional mixed martial arts: 7 wins, 4 losses, 1 draw (as of May 5th, 2006)
**PRIDE Middleweight Grand Prix Tournament, Semi-Finalist

MMA Record

8 wins (5 submissions, 3 TKO), 4 losses (3 decisions), 1 draw