May 1, 2006 TOKYO, Japan – Two additional bouts have been announced for PRIDE FIGHTING’S upcoming May 5th event, TOTAL ELIMINATION ABSOLUTE 2006 … it will be Brazil versus Brazil as ANTONIO RODRIGO NOGUIERA faces ZULUZINHO in the opening round of the absolute weight tournament … in the second bout Russia’s ROMAN ZENTSOV takes on GILBERT YVEL of Holland in a non-tournament match. 

The card so far features Japanese Olympic gold medallist HIDEHIKO YOSHIDA against former WBO/NABO cruiserweight boxing champion YOSUKE NISHIJIMA, the “Croatian Sensation” MIRKO "CROCOP" FILIPOVIC versus Japanese star IKUHISA "THE PUNK" MINOWA, AMC Pankration’s JOSH "BABY-FACED ASSASSIN" BARNETT versus Red Devil’s ALEKSANDER EMELIANENKO, England’s JAMES "MEGA PUNK" THOMPSON versus Japanese hero KAZUYUKI FUJITA, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu phenom FABRICIO WERDUM versus Dutchman ALISTAIR OVEREEM, and finally, New Zealand’s MARK HUNT versus Japan’s TSUYOSHI “TK” KOSAKA.

TOTAL ELIMINATION ABSOLUTE is the first round of PRIDE FIGHTING’S 2006 16-Man Grand Prix Tournament.  ABSOLUTE means no weight classes.  The tournament will span three events … TOTAL ELIMINATION ABSOLUTE (Opening Round), CRITICAL COUNTDOWN ABSOLUTE (Second Round) and FINAL CONFLICT ABSOLUTE (Semi-Finals and Finals).   Dates for the latter two events will be announced soon.

TOTAL EILIMINATION ABSOLUTE 2006 is scheduled to premiere on North American pay per view on Friday, May 5th, 2006.

INDEMAND, DIRECTV, DISH Network, TVN
PPV Premiere Date: Friday, May 5th, 2006
Premiere Time: 10:00 pm ET, 7:00 pm PT
Count Down show: 9:30 pm ET, 6:30 pm PT
 
A. Nogueira vs. Zuluzinho

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TOURNAMENT MATCHES

Hidehiko Yoshida (Japan) VS. Yosuke Nishijima (Japan)
Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic (Croatia) VS. Ikuhisa “The Punk” Minowa (Japan)
Josh Barnett (USA) VS. Aleksander Emelianenko (Russia)
“TK” Kosaka (Japan) VS. Mark Hunt (New Zealand)
 Kazuyuki Fujita (Japan) VS. James Thompson (UK)
Alistair Overeem (Holland) VS Fabricio Werdum (Brazil)
Antonio Rodrigo Noguiera (Brazil) VS. Zuluzinho (Brazil)

NON-TOURNAMENT MATCH

Roman Zentsov (Russia) VS. Gilbert Yvel (Holland)

Participants and fight card subject to change.

For additional replay times, please contact your pay per view provider or pridefc.com.

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