Hidehiko Yoshida
The first meeting between the two took place in the final round of Pride's Middleweight Grand Prix tournament at Pride Final Conflict 2003 on November 9, 2003. The venue for the fight was the sold-out Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan, with a live audience of 53,000. The two fighters each fought in the same night prior to the finals, with Silva defeating Hidehiko Yoshida, and Jackson defeating Chuck Liddell, respectively. On the line was the Pride 2003 Middleweight Grand Prix Championship.