Fight
cards announced for PRIDE 34: "Kamikaze"
Sokoudjou vs. Arona,
Aoki vs. Lo An Joe, Takimoto vs. Benkei
April 8, 2007
Saitama Super Arena
Saitama, Japan
Joining the ranks of top
Middleweight fighters after his victory over Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
at PRIDE.33
"THE SECOND COMING" held on
February 24th in Las Vegas, Sokoudjou "African Assassin" will
next
mount the ring in Japan. He will
clash with top Middleweight contender Ricardo Arona on April 8th at
PRIDE.34 "KAMIKAZE" at the Saitama
Super Arena. In addition, Shinya Aoki and Makoto Takimoto will
make these appearance at PRIDE.34
"KAMIKAZE."
Sokoudjou
Ricardo Arona
(Cameroon/Team Quest AFRICA)
(Brazil/Brazilian Top Team)
Sokoudjou "AFRICAN ASSASSIN," who
defeated Rogerio Nogeuira by KO in a mere 23 seconds, is coming
to Japan for the first time!! As
the shortest route to the Middleweight title, he will be fighting against
Arona,
Arona is a top contender known to
be the first middleweight fighter to have defeated Wanderlei "The
Axe
Murderer," and has also
competed for the title. If Sokoudjou succeeds in "assassinating" Arona, he
will
largely redraw the current
Middleweight power diagram.
For the moment, it is unlikely
that Sokoudjou will compete for the title since the current PRIDE
MIDDLEWEIGHT CHAMPION is his
teammate Dan Henderson. If, however, he ends up defeating Arona,
he may join Mauricio "Shogun"
Rua as a candidate for the next champion. For Arona, it will be a fight
to
defend his status and to seek
revenge for his teammate Rogerio, a member of Brazilian Top Team.
Feelings of rivalry will all the
more be heated up, as it will also be a jiujitsu vs judo fight. Will Sokoudjou
devour another big prey, or will
Arona teach him the bitter side of PRIDE?
Shinya Aoki (Japan/Paraestra
Tokyo) vs. Brian Lo An Joe (Holland/Red Devil International)
With Takanori Gomi's
defeat at February's Las Vegas event, the Lightweight division is looking
chaotic. A
bitter fight for survival towards
the "PRIDE LIGHTWEIGHT GP 2007," scheduled to commence in mid to late
May, has already begun. Currently
collecting much heated fan support is one of the world top grappler
Shinya Aoki, whose flamboyant and
long yellow tights has become his trademark. Aoki has secured three
consecutive wins at PRIDE with his
prominent power. He is, in truth, a top-class grappler who Japan boasts
to the world.
Challenging Aoki will be the
brawler from Holland, Brian Lo An Joe. This man was released from prison
merely 8 months ago. He returned
to PRIDE last October, where he secured a TKO victory in the first round.
Brian also won in the first round
at 2H2H, an event held in November 2006 in cooperation with PRIDE. He
was appraised for his exceptional
performance and was chosen as Aoki's opponent. Given that Brian is a
striker with a kickboxing
background, a thrilling grappler vs striker match can be highly anticipated.
Makoto Takimoto (Japan/Yoshida
Dojo) vs. Zelg "Benkei" Galesic (Croatia/Team Trojan)
The long-awaited striker from
England is finally coming to Japan! Zelg "Benkei" Galesic has been talked
about amongst fans as a powerful
fighter. His nickname originates from the fact that his policy is to "fight
even if his dies" just like the
Japanese historical hero Musashibou Benkei. In addition to winning the
2001
World Taekwondo Championships and
2002 European Championships at the 80kg weight division, he has
had 32 matches in amateur boxing.
He is known as a powerful striker,
because he possesses fast and vicious punches. Coming from a
Taekwondo background, he also
specializes in kicking techniques and has utilized his superhuman
resilience to take down his
opponents to the mat by backspin kicks, flying kicks, as well as knee kicks.
Benkei is originally from Croatia,
and is known in England as "Little Crocop." He is a member of Team Trojan
along with James Thompson, who
assures that "Benkei will become a superstar."
Standing up against Benkei will be
Takimoto, who will return to the PRIDE ring for the first time in 10
months. Takimoto fought in June
2006 against Gegard Mousasi at the "PRIDE WELTERWEIGHT GP," but
suffered a defeat and a fracture
to the orbital floor. Although he has recovered from his injury, Benkei is a
dangerous opponent since he is,
like Mousasi, a striker and hard puncher. Will Takimoto succeed in taking
Benkei down with his ground
techniques, or will he fall in the face of Benkei's strikes as he did against
Mousasi?
Line-up:
Fight card subject to change .
Please contact your pay per view provider or pridefc.com
- From PRIDE Newsletter with a
little editing from us (color, etc...)
Subject to change
(3/16/07)
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