Three additional fighters have been announced for PRIDE FIGHTING’S 2005 16-Man Middleweight Grand Prix Tournament, TOTAL ELIMINATION 2005.  Added to the previously announced ten fighters will be Kevin Randleman (USA), Vitor Belfort (Brazil) and Alistair Overeem (Holland).

Fighting out of Columbus, Ohio, Kevin “The Monster” Randleman is two-time national wrestling champion and three-time all American out of Ohio State University. In 2004, he advanced to the quarter-finals of the Heavyweight Grand Prix with a shocking first round KO of Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic. After competing against heavyweights for 2004, Randleman moves down to middleweight for this tournament.

“The Phenom” Vitor Belfort enters the tournament as the representative of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). A former UFC light-heavyweight champion, Belfort possesses outstanding submission abilities, striking skills, and KO power. Fighting out of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil as a member of the Brazilian Top Team, Belfort looks to be the UFC spoiler in the tournament.

Representing Team Golden Glory out of Holland, Alistair Overeem enters his second Grand Prix tournament. In 2003 Overeem was eliminated in the opening round after a spirited battle with Chuck “The Iceman” Liddell. A rising young talent, “The Demolition Man” now returns with two more years of experience and a goal to bring the Grand Prix title to Holland.

Statement by Dana White, President of the UFC:
"We at the UFC are very confident in our fighters. Two years ago we sent one of our top fighters, Chuck Liddell, over to compete in the Pride Grand Prix. Chuck won his first match by knockout but lost his second match. This year we show once again that we are not afraid to put our fighters against anyone in the world. We are sending former UFC Light Heavyweight champion Vitor "The Phenom" Belfort to be our representative in the 2005 Pride Grand Prix. He did well when he fought in Pride before and he knocked out current Pride champion Wanderlei Silva in forty-four seconds in the UFC. Even though his opponent has not been decided yet, we are very confident and proud to send him as a UFC fighter. He will prove that UFC fighters are the best in the world."

Tournament Participants:

Wanderlei Silva
Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
Quinton “Rampage” Jackson
Igor Vovchanchyn
Kazushi Sakuraba
Dan Henderson
Mauricio “Shogun” Rua
Yuki Kondo
Hidehiko Yoshida
Kazuhiro Nakamura
Alistair Overeem
Kevin Randleman
Vitor Belfort
Winner of BUSHIDO 4-man tournament (Lister/Suloev/Shoji/Filho)

Tournament Matches:

Wanderlei Silva (Brazil) vs. Hidehiko Yoshida (Japan)

Additional tournament participants and match ups to be announced soon.
(Participants and Matches Subject to Change)

PRIDE FIGHTING’S 2005 Middleweight Grand Prix Tournament will span three events … TOTAL ELIMINATION (opening round), CRITICAL COUNTDOWN (Second Round) and FINAL CONFLICT (Semi-Finals and Finals). Dates for the latter two events will be announced soon.

TOTAL ELIMINATION 2005 takes place on April 23rd, 2005 from the Osaka Dome in Japan and premieres on North American pay per view via iNDEMAND, DIRECTV, DISH NETWORK, UrbanXtra, TVN1, VU!, and Viewer’s Choice Canada on April 23rd at 10:00pm EST, 7:00pm PST (including a countdown show at 9:30pm EST, 6:30pm PST). For additional replay times, please contact your pay per view provider or pridefc.com.

For more information on PRIDE FC, visit pridefc.com!