YOSHIHIRO MAEDA SPEAKS ABOUT BUSHIDO FINALS

A press conference was held on October 16th at the Dream Stage Entertainment office in Tokyo to announce additional cards for the PRIDE Welterweight Grand Prix 2006 Final Round event, to be held at PRIDE BUSHIDO 13 on November 5th at Yokohama Arena. Following the conference, Yoshihiro Maeda spoke with reporters about his 2nd fight in BUSHIDO until BUSHIDO Public Relations Director Shigeru Saeki charged in.

Asked about his opponent, Joe Pearson, Yoshihiro Maeda said, "He's an American SHOOTO fighter. From what I've heard, he's very good at finishing the fight." From his tone, though, Maeda didn't appear very interested in Maeda. Additionally, when asked about receiving an offer from BUSHIDO for his first fight since becoming Pancrase Champion, Maeda replied, "I'm really happy but at the same time, nervous too." Although Maeda is a man of few works, he appeared to feel strongly that he wants to increase the value of his Pancrase Championship belt. Suddenly, in the middle of the Q&S session with reporters, Shigeru Saeki charged in. Maeda was dressed in a black suit with a flamboyant shirt, contrasting with Ishida's formal suit and necktie. "What in the hell are you wearing?" Saeki asked. "Most people wouldn't come form Osaka wearing that. If you walk down the street in that, people are going to get the wrong idea about what you do for a living." The conversation became quite long from this point and most of the words Saeki used aren't printable here. In summation, Saeki believes that the old Maeda that was on an undefeated winning streak has returned and he wants everyone to pay attention to Maeda's fight.

One Saeki was done talking, he asked Maeda if he had anything he wanted to say, to which Maeda replied, "You've said it all already." If Maeda is in fact back to his old ways, the fans will definitely want to see him go wild in the BUSHIDO ring.