In the first bout, legendary Japanese superstar Hayato "Mach" Sakurai will take on PRIDE FC veteran Daiju Takase. Sakurai is known as one of the most exciting middleweight fighters in mixed martial arts and is a veteran of both the UFC and Shooto (he was Shooto's reigning middleweight champion for more than three years). This will be his PRIDE FC debut. Takase is a hard-nosed PRIDE FC veteran who is coming off two impressive performances---a triangle choke victory over the highly regarded Anderson Silva at PRIDE FC "Bad to the Bone" and a hard fought loss to Rodrigo Gracie at BUSHIDO. Takase first gained fame for fighting 600-pound Sumo wrestler Emanuel Yarborough in 1998.

In the second announced match, Ryan Gracie will face Wataru Sakata. Young Ryan Gracie is one of the rising superstars from the world famous Gracie fighting family and is the second Gracie added to the fight card. Ryan Gracie's aggressive fighting style has garnered him three victories in the PRIDE FC ring, including his last, which was his most impressive---a quick KO victory over Kazuhiro Hamanaka at BUSHIDO. Sakata is a mixed martial arts veteran from the Rings organization and boasts a well-rounded striking and grappling game. This will be his PRIDE FC fighting debut.

Headlining the fight card will be the long-awaited rematch between Royce Gracie and Hidehiko Yoshida. These two submission artists battled at SHOCKWAVE 2002 and the result was the controversial finish in which Yoshida was victorious via gi choke, though Gracie protested that he did not tap and was not unconscious. This rematch continues the epic rivalry between Gracie Jiu Jitsu and Japanese Judo, which began over 50 years ago when Helio Gracie fought Masahiko Kimura in a match to prove who had the superior fighting style.