Yoshida in his fight against Royce Gracie. Photo: Susumu Nagao
Olympic judo gold medalist from the 1992 Games, Hidehiko Yoshida has announced his next will be the last fight in his MMA career. The fight is set for April 25, at an event called Astra, as reported by the MMAJunkie. Still no opponent has been defined.
At 40 years of age, Yoshida has nine wins, seven losses and one draw. In his career he has beaten the likes of Don Frye, Mark Hunt and Maurice Smith, as well as another gold medal-winning judoka, Satoshi Ishii, in his last outing. He has lost to fighters of the caliber of Wanderlei Silva, Josh Barnett and Mirko Cro Cop. The lone draw on his record came as a result of his fight with Royce Gracie at Pride Shockwave in 2003.
The official website of the Japanese organization is www.astra-official.com.