DREAM returns from a 2 month absence following the lightweight grandprix finals back in July. On tonight’s show, we will see the crowning of the first ever DREAM middleweight champion as Zelg Galesi, Ronaldo Souza, Melvin Manhoef and Gegard Mousasi, will battle it out in the grandprix finals. The tournament reserve bout will featuring Yoon Dong-sik taking on Andrews Nakahara.

Also on the card, former Pride and UFC star Mirko Cro Cop will continue on the comeback trail as he takes on the dangerous Alistair Overeem. Cro Cop is coming off a win in his DREAM debut, which followed a disappointing run in the UFC. Overeem has looked impressive in recent performances, and rides a 3 fight win streak into tonight’s bout.

Cro Cop got a massive reaction when they introduced all the fighters to the live audience.

I believe they are doing the reserve bout first.
Kenny and Bas are our commentary team as always.

Middleweight Grand Prix reserve bout:
Yoon Dong-sik vs. Andrews Nakahara
Yoon is wearing a gi. Nakahara fights on the back foot, trying to keep the distance and utilize his low kicks. He shows some decent takedown defense early, but eventually Yoon got him to the ground. He spent the majority of the round with Nakahara mounted. Yoon worked for submissions, but Nakahara’s submission defense looks to be vastly improved since his last outing. With about 1 minute left in the round, they get back to their feet. Nakahara again works some nice low kicks.

As soon as the second round starts, Nakahara drops him and follows up with some ground and pound. Yoon is not defending himself and its stopped quickly. Wow, this has to go down as a huge upset. Great job by Nakahara.

Winner: Nakahara (TKO: Round 2)

Middleweight Grand Prix semi final:
Gegard Mousasi vs. Melvin Manhoef
Mousasi got to the ground right away. He transitioned to take Manhoef’s back. Manhoef battled to defend the choke, but ended up getting mounted. Mousasi tried for a triangle choke, but Manhoef picked him right up over his head for a powerbomb. Once he slammed him, Mousasi sunk in the choke and Manhoef tapped. Fight lasted less than 1 minute and Mousasi took no damage, so he will be completely fresh going into the final.
Winner: Mousasi (submission:Round 1)

Middleweight Grand Prix semi final:
Ronaldo Souza vs. Zelg Galesic
Souza is the heavy favourite to take the whole tournament. He takes Galesic down early, and moves right into side control. He takes the mount, but Galesic roles and ends up on top. Souza looks to be going for a triangle from the bottom, but instead transitions to an armbar. He sinks it in quickly, and forces the tap. Beautiful ground work from Ronaldo Souza. Both finalists are completely fresh.
Winner: Ronaldo de Souza (Submission: Round 1)

Lightweight Bout: Keita Nakamura vs. Adriano Martins
Martins is throwing some wild strikes early with some success. Nakamura secures the take down, and the pace really slows on the ground. They are completely neutralizing each other on the floor, but Martins does get through with an elbow from the bottom, which cuts Nakamura’s eye. The referee stands them back up eventually due to inactivity. Back on the feet, Nakamura starts to control the action, connecting with single jabs, but not much power in any of them.
second round is more of the same with Nakamura getting the better of a poor boxing match. Nakamura takes a split decision. It should have been unanimous, it wasn’t a close fight.
Winner: Nakamura (Split decision)

Heavyweight bout: Sergei Kharitonov vs. Jimmy Ambriz
Ambriz is taking this fight at 72 hours notice. I have the feeling this could be a thankless job for him. Fedor is shown in the crowd during the introductions for this fight. Kharitonov drops him with a punch in the opening seconds, but Ambriz got right up and shot for a takedown. Kharitonov grabs the ropes to keep himself upright, and is giving a yellow card for doing so. Kharitonov starts to pick him apart when the action is restarted. He mixes up his striking well, throwing in some excellent body shots. Ambriz drops to the ground under serious pressure from Kharitonov. Kharitonov throws a knee and some punches to his grounded opponent, and Ambriz taps out to avoid taking further damage.
Winner: Kharitonov (KO: Round 1)

Featherweight bout: Hideo Tokoro vs. Atsushi Yamamoto
First round was almost all a boxing match, with Yamamoto out pointing Tokoro. Yamamoto knocked him down early when a stiff jab found its mark. Later in the round, another straight from Yamamoto busted open the nose of Tokoro. Tokoro threw a spinning heel kick but missed as the round neared a close.
Tokoro attempted another spin kick in the second round. This time he conected and opened a cut on Yamamoto’s face. Tokoro got the fight back to the ground with just a couple of minutes remaining. He battles hard for an armbar, but cannot secure it, and the time expires. Yamamoto takes the unanimous decision.
Winner: Yamamoto (unanimous decision)

Middleweight Bout: Ikuhisa Minowa vs. Masakatsu Funaki
Minowa catches a kick and takes it to the ground immediately.They exchange heel hooks. Minowa has boots on which make it difficult for him to fight the submission. Funaki tightens his grip, and he is forced to tap after just 30 seconds.
Winner: Funaki (Submission: Round 1)

The commentators suggest that the reason Fedor is in attendance is because he may challenge the winner of Cro Cop vs. Overeem.
Fedor comes down to the ring to address the crowd. He basically says that he is glad to be at DREAM 6, and has a chance to see his Japanese fans again. He then says that what he would like to do most is come back over to fight on the New Years Eve show.

Welterweight Bout: Hayato Sakurai vs. Kuniyoshi Hironaka
Bas is singing along to Hironaka’s entrance music.
Hironaka brings the fight to the ground, but then decides to stand back up. Sakurai makes him regret that decision, scoring with solid punch combinations and punishing low kicks. As the round progresses, Hironaka’s movement is really starting to show the effects of the leg kicks. Sakurai finds himself on the ground following a slip. Hironaka delivers a stomp to the head of his grounded opponent, which is illegal under DREAM rules. He is warned, but surprisingly doesn’t receive a yellow card.
In the second round Sakurai continues to get the better of the stand up, landing more painful looking low kicks. Sakurai gets a knockdown and comes close to finishing with ground and pound as the clock runs down, but Hironaka is saved by the bell. Sakurai gets the unanimous decision.
Winner: Sakurai (Unanimous decision)

Middleweight Bout: Yoshihiro Akiyama vs. Masanori Tonooka
This is another huge mismatch for Akiyama. Tonooka is only 1-1. Akiyama is wearing a gi. Akiyama engages in the stand up for a short time before taking it to the ground. From there he moves in to side control. He ties up both his opponents arms and lays in some strikes, while looking for submission opportunities. It seems Akiyama is toying with him as he passes on several clear openings. He takes Tonooka’s back and goes for the gi choke, but Tonooka escapes and gets back to his feet. Akiyama slams him back down with a judo throw. He then proceeds to take mount before securing an armbar midway through the first round.
Winner: Akiyama (Submission: Round 1)

Lightweight Bout: Shinya Aoki vs. Todd Moore

Aoki made short work of Moore. He jumped on Moore’s back and locked in a choke on his standing opponent. Moore goes to ground with the choke locked in tight, and has no choice but to tap. Excellent submission skills on display from Aoki.

Winner: Aoki (Submission: Round 1)

Heavyweight bout: Mirko Filipovic vs. Alistair Overeem
This should be a real interesting one. Cro Cop really needs this if he is to get himself back in contention, and Overeem has looked awesome in DREAM so far. Fedor presented flowers to each man before the fight. Alistair sort of no sold it and his corner took them. Cro Cop took the flowers himself with a big smile on his face. That was awesome.

Fight ended up being ruled a no contest. Overeem was dominating the fight having taken Cro Cop down, and opening a cut with ground and pound. He was using the clinch effectively, but inadvertently hit Mirko low with a knee. Cro Cop was given a 5 minute rest period, but as soon as the action resumed, Overeem delivered another low blow from the clinch. This time Mirko could not continue, and the fight was ruled a no contest.

Fight Ruled no contest

Middleweight Grand Prix final:
Gegard Mousasi vs. Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza
WOW. A bizarre finish to the final. Souza slammed Mousasi, and was controlling the action on the ground in the early going. However, he stood up to create distance from which to strike his opponent. Mousasi caught him with an up kick as he dived in with a superman punch, and knocked him clean out. Shades of Renzo Gracie. Mousasi attempted to follow up with punches, but the referee stepped in. Gegard Mousasi is the new DREAM middleweight champion.

Winner and new DREAM Middleweight champion: Gegard Mousasi

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