Nogueira Wants Yoshida In GP's Second Round On 7/1

[tuco]

Former PRIDE Heavyweight Champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira says he would like to fight Olympic gold medallist Hidehiko Yoshida on July 1st.

Nogueira, who defeated giant Brazilian Wagner "Zuluzinho" Martins on May 5th, was in Tokyo today, taking in the May Grand Sumo Tournament at the Ryogoku Kokugikan. With the buzz starting over second round matches for PRIDE's Openweight Grand Prix, which is set to continue on July 1st at the Saitama Super Arena, Nogueira stated that he would like to meet Japanese superstar Hidehiko Yoshida. Nogueira, who met with Sumo ozeki Ryuji "Chiyotaikai" Hiroshima, said that since Yoshida defeated Naoya Ogawa at Itadaki on New Years Eve, that he was the foremost judo player in PRIDE.

Source (http://completevaletudoaccess.blogspot.com/)

[loreia]

The way I see it, Nog's "job" is to put Werdum out of this GP.

[Shinbone]

I think Noguaira does not want to face a striker like Hunt, Crocop, Barnett, Fedor, Fujita ( not all are strikers but can deliver a hard blow) and take a safer way to the finals by taking on a judo guy.

[Grant Ellis]

He has been asking for Yoshida since August 2002.

It has been 4 years.

[Shinbone]

Okay, then I haven't said that.:)

[Grant Ellis]

Oddly enough he asked for Cro-cop at the same time.

He had just defeated Bob Sapp and said he would like to fight either Cro-cop or Yoshida next as bot hfights are fights the fans would want to see.

[bbbmarc]

first zulu than yoshida, nice move by nog - i'll feed him with mirko - this fight must happen

[RedHawk]

Like to see how Nog matches up against Yoshida.

[( o Y o )]

I don't really like how Nog tends to call out guys he is confident he will beat.

That said, I don't like how Silva calls out guys he then refuses to fight.

[hrvoje jupidu split]

nogueira is smart....with no damage to the semi final

[TheDude]

I dont think this has much to do with that. I mean, Yoshida is possibly the second/third harderst match-up there for him: A guy who he will have a hard time catching in a sub, so he will most likely have to decision the japanese hero. Hunt, Fujita and Werdum are all easier in my opinion. Werdum is not as expererienced in MMA as Nog is.

Fighting Yoshida would put him in the spotlight, and grant him possibly a bigger pay day.

[Bangalter]

I don't really like how Nog tends to call out guys he is confident he will beat.

That said, I don't like how Silva calls out guys he then refuses to fight.

AGREED!

The Wand callout was behind the scenes wasn't it?