FINAL CONFLICT ABSOLUTE POST FIGHT INTERVIEWS
09/11/2006
Yoshihiro Nakao & Kazuhiro Nakamura

Pride Fighting Championships: That seemed like an extremely difficult fight. How do you feel about it?
Kazuhiro Nakamura: I felt like I came back to where I started from, despite winning my last fight by submission.
Pride: I'm sure you were able to hear the booing coming from the crowd. Why did the fight develop like that?
Nakamura: I didn't prepare enough.
Pride: What there any reason for that?
Nakamura: No.
Pride: You were able to put together very many combinations.
Nakamura: That and I didn't use any technique. I underestimated him somewhat and I was fighting too lazily.
Pride: What is you impression of Nakao now that you have actually fought him?
Nakamura: He was a very tough fighter. I couldn't get a takedown.
Pride: Your impression of him has changed?
Nakamura: Hmmhe is a fighter but more than that, I felt how weak I am.
Pride: You said that you were going to make him understand PRIDE before your fight. In that sense, wasn't this an important fight?
Nakamura: Honestly, I still haven't gathered my thoughts yet but I think I just wasn't strong enough.
Pride: What do you intend to focus on in the future as you aim for the Middleweight belt?
Nakamura: I want to increase my mental toughness and improve my conditioning.
Pride: There was a lot of booing from the fans after the fight.
Nakamura: I deserve it because I didn't attack with everything I had.
Pride: You threw a lot of knee kicks.
Nakamura: I wanted to use more feints before the kicks. I wasn't strong enough. This is really disappointing.

Pride Fighting Championships: This was your first MMA loss.
Yoshihiro Nakao: To be honest, I'm very disappointed about losing for the first time in MMA.
Pride: You received a yellow card during the fight. What was that for?
Nakao: My strategy was to wait for an opportunity to counter and Nakamura ended up doing the same thing.
Pride: Was the difficult to fight?
Nakao: He's small, quick and he was always doing the same thing as me. His head hit my nose and I had trouble breathing.
Pride: Did you feel a difference between you?
Nakao: I think my punches are stronger. I wanted to just use strikes this time but unfortunately, I wasn't able to knock him down. I'm disappointed.
Pride: Do you agree with the decision?
Nakao: He probably threw more punches. I lost to the number. Honestly, I'm disappointed about everything. I think he was stronger where he needed to be to win.
Pride: Why did you limit yourself to striking?
Nakao: I want to go with striking to take my fighting to the next level. I wanted to strike until the very end but I wasn't able to make my strategy work. Not being able to knock him down was the reason for the decision and I also believe that it was my loss.
Pride: Were you limiting yourself to certain strikes? Was there something that you trained for but weren't able to us?
Nakao: Unfortunately, I wasn't able to use the helicopter.