Post-PRIDE Open Weight Grand Prix 2006 Second Round Interviews with Yoshihiro "KISS" Nakao and Lee Eun Su

Yoshihiro "KISS" Nakao

Pride Fighting Championships: What do you think of your opponent?

Nakao: I think he may be better at kissing than me. When he was on the bottom, he kept saying "kiss, kiss" to the point where it was a little weird.

Pride: Please tell us what you thought of the fight.

Nakao: I'm not satisfied, honestly. I had a match on New Year's Eve but I've grown stiff since then. I would give myself a score of 50 out of 100.

Pride: Does it feel like it's been a long time since your last fight?

Nakao: (No because) I'm not the type to get nervous and I want to fight in front of an audience.

Pride: I thought you might use the Helicopter [Nakao's signature pro-wrestling move].

Nakao: It ended before I could use the Helicopter. I've got a lot of techniques I can use, depending on the opponent.

Pride: I heard that you want to be a (Open Weight Grand Prix) reserve fighter.

Nakao: Very much so.

Pride: What do you need to do to achieve that?

Nakao: I want to take someone down and pound them hard. I'll start training again after I go home and make my next fight one that leads to better things.

Pride: The fans were excited during the referee check.

Nakao: I want to bring out more of my hidden character and establish myself in PRIDE.

Pride: What is your hidden character like?

Nakao: You'll just have to wait and see. The stronger my opponent gets, the more it comes out.

Pride: Do you like your new nickname, KISS?

Nakao: Honestly, I only decided on it 2 or 3 days ago and I haven't even practiced signing my name with it yet. It's easy to say so yes, I like it a lot.

Pride: You decided the name yourself?

Nakao: My coach was saying it and some girl on the train said, "It's KISS", so I thought that name was convenient.

Pride: Who would you like to fight next?

Nakao: I would like to fight (Mark) Coleman in September in a reserve match and then enter the Grand Prix.

Pride: Is Coleman your type of fighter?

Nakao: They all seem scary. Fedor seems scary. I want to go beyond the limits of Japanese people. Like, what would happen if I kissed them?

Pride: Why did you choose Thunderbirds as the song for your entrance?

Nakao: Everyone knows that song. Old, young, men and women. I thought it would be a good start for me.

Pride: What does the PRIDE ring mean to you?

Nakao: It's the best.

Lee Eun Su

Pride Fighting Championships: I don't think you were able to fight like you wanted to in this match. What do you think about that?

Lee: When I tried to stand up, I thought that moving from the ground to standing would give me a chance but (Nakao) stopped me and the fight ended before I could do what I wanted.

Pride: You've been serving your time in the military until recently. Did that time away from the ring affect you?

Lee: I didn't have much time to prepare after I received the offer for this fight but I did practice my striking even when I was in the military so this fight was unfortunate.

Pride: Nakao overwhelmed you on the ground. What were you thinking about at that time?

Lee: I thought I had a good opportunity when we stood up and my eye didn't really hurt but it was worse than I thought and the doctor stopped the fight.