PRIDE Fighting Championships announced it was adding two additional matches to the Final Conflict Show that airs on August 28 from Saitama Super Arena. The matches are Hidehiko Yoshida vs. Tank Abbott and Kazuhiro Nakamura (6-4) vs. Igor Vovchanchyn (45-8-1).
Mr. Abbott was recently signed to PRIDE and this is his debut match. He has a record of 9-10, and has lost three of his four most recent matches, all of the losses occuring in a high-contract agreement with UFC in 2003. Mr. Yoshida has a record of 4-3-1. He lost to Wanderlei Silva twice and Rulon Gardener once.
All of Mr. Nakamura’s losses were to high profile opponents: Silva, Dan Henderson, and twice to Antonio Rogerio Nogueira.
The matches join the finals of the ongoing middleweight tournament that features Silva vs. Ricardo Arona and Mauricio “Shogun” Rua vs. Alistair Overeem before the two winners meet in the finals.
Also on the card is the long-anticipated heavyweight championship contest between Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic and Fedor Emelianenko. Mr. Emelianenko is the champion.
