Hidehiko Yoshida

From Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core
(Redirected from Yoshida Dojo)
Jump to: navigation, search
Hidehiko Yoshida
200px
Hidehiko Yoshida in 2013.
Born (1969-09-03) September 3, 1969 (age 54)
Obu, Aichi, Japan
Nationality Japanese
Height 5 ft 11 in (180 cm)
Weight 225 lb (102 kg; 16 st 1 lb)
Division Light Heavyweight
Heavyweight
Team Yoshida Dojo
Rank Olympian and sixth dan white & red belt in Judo
Years active 2002-2010 (MMA)
Mixed martial arts record
Total 18
Wins 9
By submission 8
By decision 1
Losses 8
By knockout 2
By submission 1
By decision 5
Draws 1
Other information
Mixed martial arts record from Sherdog
Hidehiko Yoshida
Medal record
Representing  Japan
Men's Judo
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place 1992 Barcelona -78 kg
World Championships
Bronze medal – third place 1991 Barcelona -78 kg
Silver medal – second place 1993 Hamilton -78 kg
Silver medal – second place 1995 Chiba -86 kg
Gold medal – first place 1999 Birmingham -90 kg
Asian Championships
Gold medal – first place 1988 Damascus -78 kg

Hidehiko Yoshida (吉田 秀彦 Yoshida Hidehiko?, born September 3, 1969) is a Japanese gold-medalist judoka and retired mixed martial artist. He is a longtime veteran of Japan's PRIDE Fighting Championships, competing in the Middleweight (93kg) and Heavyweight divisions. He won gold at the 1992 Summer Olympic Games at 78 kg. Yoshida also had two famous fights with MMA pioneer Royce Gracie that resulted in a no-contest and a time-limit draw.

Judo career

Yoshida first came onto the judo scene at the 1991 World Judo Championships in Barcelona, taking third place at 78 kg.[1] He then took gold in the 1991 All Japan Judo Championships and 1992 A-Tournament in Sofia before entering the 1992 Summer Olympic Games.[2] He swept the competition in Barcelona, winning all six matches by Ippon en route to his first Olympic gold medal.[3] He went on to medal in the 1993, 1995 and 1999 World Championships, but didn't win gold at the Olympics again.[4] He finished in fifth place at the 1996 Summer Games[5] and ninth at the 2000 Summer Games.[6] He retired from Judo after the 2000 Summer Games.

He founded Yoshida Dojo, which focuses primarily on judo but also helps train MMA fighters.

Mixed martial arts career

Yoshida had his first apparition in mixed martial arts media in a special grappling match against UFC pioneer Royce Gracie at PRIDE Shockwave in 2002. The rules of the match would feature limited striking to the body while standing and no judges decision, and would requer both to use gi, touting it as a "judo vs. Brazilian jiu-jitsu" contest.

Royce started the fight attempting a leglock and an armbar, with Hidehiko blocking them and returned the favour with a gi choke and a leglock exchange. Gracie pulled guard, but Yoshida turned it into a daki age and sought the Kimura lock. The Brazilian blocked the technique, but then Yoshida mounted him and performed a sode guruma jime. After a moment of inactivity, the referee Yuji Shimada stopped the match in the belief Royce was unconscious and gave victory to Yoshida. Gracie immediately protested, claiming he had not passed out and that the referee had not authority to stop the match, while Yoshida's team argued that he was not doing any visible attempt to break the hold. Nonetheless, in order to stop the controversy, PRIDE changed the result to no contest, and Gracie was promised a future rematch.

Yoshida's first true MMA bout came at PRIDE 23 against former UFC 8 Tournament Champion and UFC Ultimate Ultimate 1996 Tournament Champion Don Frye. During the match, Yoshida took Frye down and attempted again his sode guruma jime, but Frye escaped, so then Hidehiko executed an armbar, breaking Frye's arm after he refused to tap out. It marked the first time in six years that Frye had been defeated.[7] Secondly, Yoshida submitted former world karate champion Masaaki Satake by neck crank at Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye.

At PRIDE Total Elimination 2003, Yoshida faced shoot-style ace Kiyoshi Tamura in the first round of the Middleweight Grand Prix Tournament. Yoshida was dominated for most of the first round, receiving leg kicks and punches from the veteran Tamura and having his back taken on the ground, but he eventually threw down Tamura and performed sode guruma jime for the tap out.

Yoshida's first loss was to the PRIDE Middleweight Champion Wanderlei Silva via unanimous decision at PRIDE Final Conflict 2003. Wanderlei had already knocked out Japanese fighters like Tamura and Kazushi Sakuraba, but Yoshida broke expectations when he absorbed most of the punishment and pursued relentlessly the match, taking him down several times and attempting submissions. The back-and-forth affair earned Fight of the Year honors from Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

Less than two months after his match with Wanderlei, Yoshida got in the rematch against Royce Gracie at PRIDE Shockwave 2003. The fight was this time under modified PRIDE rules, with a special referee in Matt Hume, two rounds of 10 minutes each, and no judges. Royce fought this time without his gi top, and caused controversy when he landed a low blow on Yoshida which stopped the match for minutes. Yoshida continued the fight knocking down Royce and attacking him on the ground, but Gracie swept him and threw ground and pound, making him turtle up for the rest of the match. Due to the special rules, it was ruled a draw.

At PRIDE Critical Countdown 2004, Yoshida faced the debuting Mark Hunt, kickboxing champion and k-1 veteran, and a much heavier opponent. Yoshida almost finished the fight early with an armbar from the bottom, but Hunt blocked it by pressing on Hidehiko's throat with his knee. For the rest of the fight, Hidehiko tried leglocks, triangle chokes and armbars, with the kickboxer blocking all of them via raw strength and a makeshift submission defense, until Yoshida could finally lock an armbar and get the win.

In 2004, after K-1 and PRIDE tried to get a rubber match with Royce Gracie, Yoshida was left to face the similarly debuting Rulon Gardner when Royce chose to face Akebono. Gardner, Olympic gold medalist in Greco-Roman wrestling and heavier than Hidehiko, performed unexpectedly and dominated Yoshida for an unanimous decision.

In April 2005, Yoshida got a rematch against Wanderlei Silva in PRIDE Total Elimination. The fight was closer than its first iteration, with Yoshida winning the first round to the judges and keeping himself out of danger until a series of leg kicks by Silva at the third, but the judo champion lost again by decision. Yoshida recovered from the defeat submitting Tank Abbott at the next event with the judo technique known as kata-ha-jime.

At the end of the same year, Yoshida faced fellow Japanese judoka Naoya Ogawa by an armbar in a highly anticipated MMA bout at PRIDE Shockwave 2005 with each fighter receiving a payment of US$2 million, which remains one of the most expensive fights in MMA history.[8] Yoshida and Ogawa had already clashed at the World Judo Championship, a contest which was won by Hidehiko in an upset, and a theme of revenge was played in this match. Started the battle, Yoshida threw punches and took Ogawa down, and then a long and aggressive exchange of reversions and ground and pound happened. At the end, Ogawa looked to have dominant position, but Yoshida locked an armbar from the guard by surprise, making his judo rival submit.

In March 2008, Yoshida lost by submission to Josh Barnett, a former training partner, at World Victory Road's inaugural show Sengoku and in June he defeated former UFC Heavyweight Champion Maurice Smith by neck crank in the first round of Sengoku: Third Battle.

Yoshida was defeated by Sanae Kikuta via split decision on January 4, 2009 at World Victory Road Presents: Sengoku Rebellion 2009.

Yoshida defeated Satoshi Ishii at Dynamite!! 2009. Ishii had been pursued by many of the best organizations in the world such as the UFC and Strikeforce, to name a few. Yoshida was a significant underdog but came out in the first round and dominated the less-experienced Ishii, landing many punches including a right overhand that staggered Ishii, as well as a series of uppercuts and knees from the clinch. Ishii somewhat found his range in the second round from the clinch, but then landed an illegal knee to the groin of Yoshida, which badly hurt the veteran. Yoshida actually had to have his protective cup changed, but was ultimately able to demonstrate his heart by continuing to fight. Yoshida was taken down at the end of the second round and then was not as effective in the third round, getting hit with numerous strikes from Ishii, but ultimately held his own and was able to pull off the upset win via unanimous decision.

Retirement fight

Yoshida participated in an event called ASTRA for his last fight on April 25, 2010, as a response to his frustration with his previous promotion.[9] Yoshida lost the fight via unanimous decision to Kazuhiro Nakamura, a long-time student of his dojo.

Championships and accomplishments

Judo

Mixed martial arts

Mixed martial arts record

Res. Record Opponent Method Event Date Round Time Location Notes
Loss 9–8–1 Kazuhiro Nakamura Decision (unanimous) ASTRA: Yoshida's Farewell April 25, 2010 3 5:00 Tokyo, Japan Retirement bout
Win 9–7–1 Satoshi Ishii Decision (unanimous) Dynamite!! The Power of Courage 2009 December 31, 2009 3 5:00 Saitama, Japan
Loss 8–7–1 Sanae Kikuta Decision (split) World Victory Road Presents: Sengoku no Ran 2009 January 4, 2009 3 5:00 Saitama, Japan
Win 8–6–1 Maurice Smith Submission (neck crank) World Victory Road Presents: Sengoku 3 June 8, 2008 1 3:23 Saitama, Japan
Loss 7–6–1 Josh Barnett Submission (heel hook) World Victory Road Presents: Sengoku First Battle March 5, 2008 3 3:23 Tokyo, Japan
Loss 7–5–1 James Thompson TKO (punches) Pride FC - Shockwave 2006 December 31, 2006 1 7:50 Saitama, Japan
Loss 7–4–1 Mirko Filipović TKO (leg kicks) Pride FC - Critical Countdown Absolute July 1, 2006 1 7:38 Saitama, Japan PRIDE 2006 Heavyweight Grand Prix Quarter-Final.
Win 7–3–1 Yosuke Nishijima Submission (triangle choke) Pride FC - Total Elimination Absolute May 5, 2006 1 2:33 Osaka, Japan PRIDE 2006 Heavyweight Grand Prix Opening Round.
Win 6–3–1 Naoya Ogawa Submission (armbar) PRIDE Shockwave 2005 December 31, 2005 1 6:04 Saitama, Japan
Win 5–3–1 Tank Abbott Submission (single wing choke) PRIDE Final Conflict 2005 August 28, 2005 1 7:40 Saitama, Japan
Loss 4–3–1 Wanderlei Silva Decision (split) PRIDE Total Elimination 2005 April 23, 2005 3 5:00 Osaka, Japan
Loss 4–2–1 Rulon Gardner Decision (unanimous) PRIDE Shockwave 2004 December 31, 2004 3 5:00 Saitama, Japan
Win 4–1–1 Mark Hunt Submission (armbar) PRIDE Critical Countdown 2004 June 20, 2004 1 5:25 Saitama, Japan
Draw 3–1–1 Royce Gracie Draw (time limit) PRIDE Shockwave 2003 December 31, 2003 2 10:00 Saitama, Japan Match under special rules.
Loss 3–1 Wanderlei Silva Decision (unanimous) PRIDE Final Conflict 2003 November 9, 2003 2 5:00 Tokyo, Japan PRIDE 2003 Middleweight Grand Prix Semi-Final. Fight of the Year (2003).
Win 3–0 Kiyoshi Tamura Submission (ezekiel choke) PRIDE Total Elimination 2003 August 10, 2003 1 5:06 Saitama, Japan Pride 2003 Middleweight Grand Prix Opening Round.
Win 2–0 Masaaki Satake Submission (neck lock) Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye 2002 December 31, 2002 1 0:50 Saitama, Japan
Win 1–0 Don Frye Technical submission (armbar) PRIDE 23 November 24, 2002 1 5:32 Tokyo, Japan

See also

References

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ http://www.purolove.com/tokyosports.php

External links

Retrieved from "https://infogalactic.com/w/index.php?title=Hidehiko_Yoshida&oldid=3728627"