From www.pridefc.com :

A bandaged Hidehiko Yoshida held a press conference for the first time at his dojo, Yoshida Dojo, on August 12th. Although Yoshida defeated Kiyoshi Tamura in their August 10th PRIDE GP bout, Tamura left Yoshida with a seriously injured left knee that is expected to require 2 months to heal.

Yoshida's left knee was wrapped in ice bags when he appeared for the press conference. Yoshida's knee has been diagnosed with internal bleeding and will require 2 months to fully heal. "We at DSE definitely want him to continue fighting." DSE President Sakakibara grimly explained, "However, it's possible that he won't be capable of fighting, even if he wants to. His knee requires 2 months to heal and that would only leave him with a month to train. It's a very difficult situation."

Hearing this, Yoshida declared his strong intent to fight, even if it means forcing himself to. "I may be injured by I am focused on fighting in the November finals. There will problems with losing weight and lack of training but I'll have to make up for it with mental training."

A same-day delayed broadcast of the PRIDE GP in Japan was watched on average by 16% of viewers, with the highest ratings of 21.9% coming in at the end of the Yoshida/Tamura match. Yoshida has garnered a lot of attention and is sure to continue to be under the spotlight. "Yoshida has become a pro" President Sakakibara continued, "and this was proven out by his willingness to stand up and strike with Tamura."
It seems that Yoshida is finding it hard to give up his ticket to the finals. Despite his desire to continue, he still has problems to overcome. "It didn't hurt during the match" Yoshida explained, "but afterwards, my knee locked up and I couldn't straighten it." Yoshida was taken to the hospital after the match but he said that he wasn't even able to sleep that night due to the pain. His knee was bleeding internally and 50CC of blood was removed. Yoshida has injuries in both of his knees from his judo days and according to him, his left knee is beginning to deform.

Yoshida is still maintaining a positive outlook. "I'm used to being injured so it's okay. I'll increase my training according to the pace of my recovery. I don't know how long it will take until the pain goes away but I believe it will be fine."

Ultimately, a decision will be made between the official doctor, Yoshida Dojo and DSE, with a decision and the card lineup to be announced in September.

DSE President Sakakibara's Comments:
I haven't thought about replacing Yoshida at all. However, if he does need to be replaced, I want to be fair. The replacement would not necessarily be Japanese. I do want Yoshida to get into the ring in November as the representative of Japan, PRIDE and judo. We'll decide how the tournament finals will be put together based upon the surveys we distributed at the recent event. We want to give the fans what they want. If there's not a big lead for any particular matchup, it's still possible that it will be decided by lottery.

yosh isnt going to show

yo****a is gonna take a lifetime to heal cus he gonna have to fight silva and he knows he's going get mollywopped.

I hope he'll show, the silva fight would have been a interesting matchup between grappler and striker.

Yoshida is going to back out

Ethier that or use it as an excuse when he loses

well looks like kaps was right it did happen

Originally posted by Creed
Yoshida is going to back out

Ethier that or use it as an excuse when he loses

Yep. I can't stand Yoshida. In my eyes he represents everything that is wrong with our sport. Worked bouts, arbitrary favoritism, and a lack honesty and ethics.

I wonder who will replace him?

oh, another tomato can.

Originally posted by KimuraMan
I hope he'll show, the silva fight would have been a interesting matchup between grappler and striker.

The only thing that interests me about this fight is if Silva will KO him with a punch or knee.......

I cant see it happening, more likely a stoppage then a ko, just a feeling. If yoshida can take him down immediatly which will be difficult i admit then it will make the fight interesting like I said.

I doubt it, Yoshida is already getting his excuses ready. See now if he loses, it is because he had a knee injury and couldnt train properly.......

So when silva or any other fighter you happen to like explains to the public if he has a injury and expresses that we will compete injured or not its alright with you. Only when Yoshida or any other fighter you dislike makes the same type of announcement you chastise them? I'm not picking a fight with you i'm just wondering.

No, I hate Silva too. I also know that his knee injury is nothing new, he has had it for years. But I seriously doubt that this guy is going to give Silva that much trouble. I am more pissed off that Silva is getting the easyer path to the finals.......

Anyone can give someone else trouble if they take them into there world, obviously if yoshida decides to trade with silva he will die. Maybe Yoshida saw that Tamura isnt one of the best fighters and decided to stand up with him to test the water. If so I dont beleive he would try that with Silva after getting hammered on his feet by tamura.