In a surprise twist, but at the same time not necessarily surprising for Japanese MMA, 1992 Olympic judo gold medalist Hidehiko Yoshida will end his career against his own student and Yoshida Dojo teammate, Kazuhiro Nakamura.
The promoters announced Thursday, along with matchups featuring Ryo Chonan and Jorge Masvidal, that the two judokas will headline ASTRA on April 25 at the Nippon Budokan in Japan. Check out the complete fight card below.
Yoshida, 40, will bring with him a 9-7-1 record to his retirement fight and is coming off a win on New Year's Eve, when he defeated 2008 Olympic judo gold medalist Satoshi Ishii by unanimous decision.
Nakamura is a UFC and PRIDE veteran who is coming off middleweight contention losses to Jorge Santiago and Kazuo Misaki in Sengoku.
Back to the student vs. teacher theme, another notable retirement fight was when Nobuhiko Takada finished his career at PRIDE 23 in November 2002 in a loss against former student Kiyoshi Tamura.
ASTRA Fight Card:
Hidehiko Yoshida vs. Kazuhiro Nakamura
Enson Inoue vs. Antz Nansen
Ryo Chonan vs. Junghwan Cha
Yuya Shirai vs. Che Mills
Naoyuki Kotani vs. Jorge Masvidal
Daisuke Nakamura vs. Tentsuku Ganjou
Michihiro Omigawa vs. Micah Miller
Tatsunao Nagakura vs. Akihiko Mouri
The promoters announced Thursday, along with matchups featuring Ryo Chonan and Jorge Masvidal, that the two judokas will headline ASTRA on April 25 at the Nippon Budokan in Japan. Check out the complete fight card below.
Yoshida, 40, will bring with him a 9-7-1 record to his retirement fight and is coming off a win on New Year's Eve, when he defeated 2008 Olympic judo gold medalist Satoshi Ishii by unanimous decision.
Nakamura is a UFC and PRIDE veteran who is coming off middleweight contention losses to Jorge Santiago and Kazuo Misaki in Sengoku.
Back to the student vs. teacher theme, another notable retirement fight was when Nobuhiko Takada finished his career at PRIDE 23 in November 2002 in a loss against former student Kiyoshi Tamura.
ASTRA Fight Card:
Hidehiko Yoshida vs. Kazuhiro Nakamura
Enson Inoue vs. Antz Nansen
Ryo Chonan vs. Junghwan Cha
Yuya Shirai vs. Che Mills
Naoyuki Kotani vs. Jorge Masvidal
Daisuke Nakamura vs. Tentsuku Ganjou
Michihiro Omigawa vs. Micah Miller
Tatsunao Nagakura vs. Akihiko Mouri