Deep in September 2002, Tamura defeated another shoot-style fighter, Ikuhisa Minowa, by unanimous decision. They had a rematch in PRIDE two years later, which was much shorter, with Tamura overwhelming Minowa with leg kicks and a knee strike, followed by soccer kicks to the head. Tamura and Minowa shook hands as a sign of respect after the match, though Tamura featured an incident in which he shoved the referee for what was believed to be a late stoppage. In August 2003, Tamura fought judo medalist Hidehiko Yoshida in the latter's third MMA fight. Showing his experience, Tamura knocked him down with a left cross and worked through his guard before returning to their feet. Afterwards, the shoot wrestler landed continuous kicks to Yoshida's legs and body, also capturing his back once during a failed judo throw. Finally, Yoshida threw Tamura down and forced him to tap to a quick sode guruma jime. The strange sequence of the choke brought accusations of a fixed fight performed to increase Yoshida's popularity, but Dave Meltzer and other pundits considered it dubious, attributing it to Tamura's own inexperience with gi chokes. For several years, efforts have been made by PRIDE to put Tamura and fellow UWFi alum and mixed martial artist Kazushi Sakuraba together in a fight due to their status as two of the best Japanese fighters of their time as well as a rumored rivalry. An announcement was made at PRIDE 34 by Nobuyuki Sakakibara that promised the fans a future fight between the two. However, PRIDE ceased being an active promotion after that event. Post-PRIDE At K-1 Premium 2007, Tamura faced Hideo Tokoro, an apprentice of former RINGS wrestler Kenichi Yamamoto. Outweighing his opponent by 17 kg (38 lbs) and showing a brilliant submission defense, Tamura kept control over him in the grappling exchanges, taking his back several times and grinding him with punches and ground and pound, until he locked a stretch armlock from a keylock position in round 3 to make him tap out. A year after, Tamura would fight yet another shoot-style fighter, this time the Pancrase legend Masakatsu Funaki. Despite the hype surrounding the fight, caused by RINGS' and Pancrase' former rivalry, the bout was swift, with Tamura outstriking him and tripping him to the mat for the ground and pound TKO. Finally it was announced that Kiyoshi Tamura and Kazushi Sakuraba were set to fight at