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FOUR
MORE FIGHTERS ADDED TO TOTAL ELIMINATION 2004!
LOS
ANGELES – Four more participants have been added to the sixteen man
heavyweight tournament,
TOTAL
ELIMINATION 2004, which will take place on April 25th, 2004 from the
Saitama Super Arena in
Japan.
The event is scheduled to debut on North American pay per view on
same day delay.
Newly
Added Participants:
Kevin
“The Monster” Randleman
Murilo
“Ninja” Rua
Ron
“H20” Waterman
Yoshiki
Takahashi
Previously
Announced Participants:
Mark
“The Hammer” Coleman
Hirotaka
Yokoi
Paulo
Cesar “Giant” Silva
Sergei
Kharitonov
Fedor
Emelianenko
Antonio
Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira
Mirko
“Cro Cop” Filipovic
“The
Texas Crazy Horse” Heath Herring
Stefan
“Blitz” Leko
Henry
“Sentoryu” Miller
Two
of the previously announced competitors have dropped out---“Ice
Cold” Igor Vovchanchyn due to
injury
and Sylvester “The
Predator” Terkay for personal reasons.
One
of the most successful amateur
wrestlers to make the transition to mixed martial arts, Kevin “The
Monster”
Randleman was a three time All-American and two time national wrestling
champion at Ohio State
University.
He enters the tournament as a PRIDE FC veteran and as the UFC’s
former world heavyweight
champion,
having won the title with a win against Pete Williams at UFC 23: Ultimate
Japan 2. Along with
Mark
“The Hammer” Coleman, he is the second representative from the Hammer
House Gym in this 16-man
tournament.
Murilo
“Ninja” Rua is the official heavyweight representative in the
tournament for the Chute Boxe Vale Tudo
team
of Brazil. With Chute
Boxe’s Wanderlei Silva having won the 2003 middleweight tournament,
“Ninja”
is
looking
to make it a sweep and continue Chute Boxe dominance!
With
a mixed martial arts record of 10-2, the 6’2, 250 lbs Ron “H20”
Waterman is one of the most powerful
men
in the sport. His strength
coupled with his wrestling and submission abilities makes this Colorado
native
one of the toughest match-ups in the tournament.
A
mixed martial arts veteran with nearly
thirty wins in the Pancrase organization, Yoshiki Takahashi blends a
solid
stand up game with an array of submissions.
Among this heavyweight fighter’s list of career victories is
a
win over Wallid Ismail at UFC 12: Judgment Day.
The
final two remaining participants as well as the match-ups for the opening
round will be announced soon.
The
schedule for the tournament will be as follows:
PRIDE
FC 16-Man Heavyweight Tournament
TOTAL
ELIMINATION 2004
April
25, 2004
Saitama
Super Arena
(Opening
Round)
CRITICAL
COUNTDOWN 2004
June
20, 2004
Saitama
Super Arena
(Second
Round)
FINAL
CONFLICT 2004
August
15, 2004
Saitama
Super Arena
(Semi-Finals
and Finals)
PRIDE
FC: TOTAL ELIMINATION 2004 will premiere on North American pay per view
through iNDEMAND,
DIRECTV,
DISH NETWORK, UrbanXtra, TVN1, Bell Express Vu, and Viewer’s Choice
Canada on Sunday,
April
25th, 2004. The premiere
time is 9:00pm EST, 6:00pm PST and the count down show is at 8:30pm
EST,
5:30pm PST. For
additional replay times, please contact your pay per view provider or
pridefc.com.
Participants
and fight card are subject to change.
For
more information on PRIDE FC, visit pridefc.com!
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From Dream Stage Entertainment (with a little editing from us -
highlights, color, etc...)
(4/9/04)
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