Thanks to our good friend Tensei, I have access to the interviews Pride does at the pre-fight press conference. He has personally translated all of these for us.
HIROYUKI ABE
- I trained on my basic condition at my school's wrestling gym as an AACC member. I go every year so it's not something special I did for this fight, but it was before a match so it was good timing. I usually just act like a big-mouth old guy, but this time I trained pretty hard too haha.
- In terms of this being a challenge match, I lost last time so there's nothing I can say. Last Bushido I lost without being able to do anything, so I want to have more fun this time. Winning or losing is important too, but I want to think more about how I can overcome myself rather than the opponent.
- Matsushita seems like a guy who loves to bang and has alot of power. In terms of weight division he's one above me, and he does judo so his core must be solid and he must have strength as well. I hope both of us moves around alot for this match. I want to do MMA, not just striking. Taking him down and GnP is the ideal, but I have no set plans for now. Matsushita said I taught him? I knew he was in A-3 but I don't remember that haha.
- I talk to Josh Barnett alot these days, and when I sent him an email saying my opponent's decided, he sent me Matsushita's whole career stats (Fight Finder ftw!) and told me to do this and that. Some of those though, I thought to myself "man I can't do that!" haha. The loss in July's ClubDEEP, that's just the way it goes sometimes. I think there's alot I could've done, and I trained with those things in mind. I really want a strong win in my hometown.
NAOKI MATSUSHITA
- I'm really happy that my lil bro and my team and everyone around me is cheering for me for my first Pride fight. Until I made a team as brothers, I thought it would've been great if I could enter Pride as a result of doing MMA, but holding events on our own I really wanted the brand-name, the market value of Pride to myself as well.
- The knee I got in the Ikemoto match did no damage to me. But the wound opened in a Y shape and the blood wouldn't stop, a loss is a loss but I really had alot of regrets about that fight. Rather than winning, I really wanted to show what I was about in my hometwon Osaka. My wound is okay, I asked them to stitch very intricately so I can go fight right away haha.
- I always try to fight aggressively, and I'm always thinking about showing some strong point about myself in a fight. For example the striking, the throws, or in defense, be resilient enough to never get taken down, I want to show that something. I also don't want to think too much. If the fighters are having fun then it's fun for those that are watching, if the fighters are bored then I think the audience will be too. The Osaka fight is a good example, if I can fight a really dramatic fight then I don't really care about the victory or loss.
- I fought alot before, but Abe is an even longer veteran. I used to be in WK (Uno) and Abe taught me for a while. Well it doesn't matter in a fight, but he's really senior to me in a sense. People say this is a brothers match? (**they both have brothers) Maybe I might lose, but as brothers we will win haha.
- In this fight, rather than just myself, I want people to be impressed by MB3z and my supporters. In Nagoya there are people that will support me and those are the ones who helped me get into Bushido, so I want them to see me fight.
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