The newly-formed promotion, ASTRA, will promote Hidehiko Yoshida's retirement fight on April 25th at the Nippon Budokan, an arena that has been known to hold up to 15,000 fans.
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Yoshida did not rule out potentially fighting a foreigner as well, as he mentioned an interest in retiring in a bout with Wanderlei Silva. Of course, Silva is still under contract to Zuffa and is a pet favorite of Dana White's, so do not expect to see him competing for a rival in Japan any time soon.
- Head Kick Legend with news of Hidehiko Yoshida's upcoming retirement fight.
Yoshida is one of those guys who will likely be lost in the shuffle in the big growing period of MMA. His first career loss will always stick out in my mind as his most impressive performance in my eyes. Coming in to the 2003 PRIDE Grand Prix, one of the most deeply stacked tournaments in MMA history, at only 2-0, Yoshida won his opening round bout against Kiyoshi Tamura only to be seeded against PRIDE champion Wanderlei Silva in the next round.
Most experts were calling it a cakewalk for Silva, who at the time was destroying everyone he ran across with relative ease. Rather than showing up and rolling over, Yoshida gave it everything he had for the entire duration of the bout and lost a very close decision. The two would rematch in the 2005 version of the tournament with Yoshida dropping another close fight, this time via split decision.
While never a world beater, he was always tough and never laid down for anyone.
Stay tuned to SB Nation for more information once Yoshida's final opponent is announced.
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