''Dream 6: Middle Weight Grandprix 2008 Final Round'' was a

mixed martial arts Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, inc ...

event promoted by

Fighting and Entertainment Group Fighting and Entertainment Group (FEG) was the leading Japanese combat sport promoter founded on September 3, 2003. Its last president was Sadaharu Tanikawa and it was the parent company behind the now-defunct mixed martial arts series Dream and fo ...

's mixed martial arts promotion

Dream A dream is a succession of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations that usually occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. Humans spend about two hours dreaming per night, and each dream lasts around 5 to 20 minutes, althou ...

on September 23, 2008. The event hosted the crowning of Dream's first Middleweight Champion,

Gegard Mousasi Gegard Mousasi (born 1 August 1985), is a Dutch mixed martial artist and former kickboxer, currently competing in Bellator MMA, where he is the former two-time Bellator Middleweight Champion. As of December 13, 2022, he is #10 in the Bellator MMA ...

, after the conclusion of the Middleweight Grand Prix.

Background

A bout between

Ronaldo Souza Ronaldo Souza dos Santos (born December 7, 1979), nicknamed " Jacare" (), is a Brazilian former mixed martial artist and submission grappler who competed for UFC from 2013 to 2021. A highly regarded grappler on the world s ...

and

Frank Trigg Dewey Franklin Trigg III (born May 7, 1972) is an American retired mixed martial artist, color commentator, pro wrestler, MMA referee and TV host. Trigg is a veteran of the UFC, Pride Fighting Championships, Rumble on the Rock, Icon Sport-(Icon S ...

was announced for the Middleweight Grand Prix. Trigg would subsequently announce that a visa wasn't secured and the bout between the two wasn't finalized. Trigg was replaced by National university freestyle wrestling champion Ian Murphy. Jason Miller made his DREAM debut, facing Katsuyori Shibata in the first round of the Grand Prix. Taiei Kin was pitted against Ikuhisa Minowa, while Gegard Mousasi was expected to fight the PRIDE 2006 Welterweight Grand Prix finalist Denis Kang. Yoon Dong-Sik was booked to fight Shungo Oyama. Japanese superstar

Kazushi Sakuraba is a Japanese professional wrestler, mixed martial artist and submission wrestler, currently signed to Rizin Fighting Federation and Pro Wrestling Noah, where he was formerly one-half of the former GHC Tag Team Champions with Takashi Sugiura. ...

faced Andrews Nakahara. The last fight announced was Kiyoshi Tamura against Masakatsu Funaki.

Results

2008 Middleweight Grand Prix bracket

** = Replacement Dream Middleweight Grand Prix Reserve Bouts: :

Melvin Manhoef Melvin Manhoef (born 11 May 1976) is a retired Surinamese-born Dutch mixed martial artist and kickboxer. In kickboxing, he is a former It's Showtime Middleweight Champion, and in MMA he was the Cage Rage Light Heavyweight Champion. In mixed mar ...

def. Dae Won Kim at Dream 3 :

Andrews Nakahara Andrews Nakahara (born March 12, 1983) is a Brazilian professional mixed martial artist, kickboxer and kyokushin karateka currently signed with K-1. He made his MMA pro debut against Kazushi Sakuraba at the Dream 2: Middleweight Grand Prix 2008 ...

def. Yoon Dong-sik at Dream 6

Notes

Badr Hari Badr Hari (born 8 December 1984) is a Moroccan-Dutch kickboxer. He is a former K-1 Heavyweight World Champion (2007–2008), It's Showtime Heavyweight World Champion (2009–2010) and ''K-1 World Grand Prix 2008 and 2009'' finalist. Born an ...

approached the ring prior to the Middle-Weight Final bout and challenged the Dream Heavyweight fighters to a match against him at the K-1 Dynamite Show in Tokyo. He also insulted the performance of the competitors by stating "All I've seen tonight is a bunch of hugging and kissing" *

Fedor Emelianenko Fedor Vladimirovich Emelianenko ( rus, Фёдор Влади́мирович Емелья́ненко, r=Fyodor Vladimirovich Yemelyanenko, p=ˈfʲɵdər vlɐˈdʲimʲɪrəvʲɪtɕ jɪmʲɪˈlʲjænʲɪnkə, IPA; born ...

announced his desire to participate in Dream's New Year show: Fields Dynamite!! 2008 on December 31 at the

Saitama Super Arena is a multi-purpose indoor arena located in Chūō-ku, Saitama, Saitama Prefecture, Japan. It opened preliminarily on May 5, 2000, and then was officially opened on September 1 of the same year. Its maximum spectator capacity is 36,500, making i ...

. He was expected to face the winner of the Cro Cop vs. Overeem bout, but due to the No Contest, his opponent remained undecided. * Joachim Hansen addressed the crowd and announced his participation at Fields Dynamite!! 2008, with his opponent to be determined. * A number of

World Victory Road World Victory Road (WVR) is a defunct Japanese mixed martial arts (MMA) organization which promoted the Sengoku Raiden Championship (SRC) in Japan. The organization was formed in 2007 following the purchase of PRIDE FC by Zuffa. It operated in ...

fighters were in attendance and

Yoshihiro Akiyama , also known as and by his nickname Sexyama, is a Japanese mixed martial artist and judoka who won the gold medal at the 2001 Asian Championships for South Korea and for Japan at the 2002 Asian Games. A fourth-generation Japanese of ...

hinted at a potential merger on the horizon by declaring he wanted to fight

Hidehiko Yoshida is a Japanese gold-medalist judoka and retired mixed martial artist. He is a longtime veteran of Japan's PRIDE Fighting Championships, competing in the Middleweight (93kg) and Heavyweight divisions. He won gold at the 1992 Sum ...

next. Notable WVR fighters at Dream.6 included

Takanori Gomi is a Japanese professional mixed martial artist who gained international fame in Pride Fighting Championships. Later in his career, Gomi also competed in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Gomi is the only Pride FC Lightweight Champion in th ...

Xande Ribeiro Alexandre Ribeiro (born January 20, 1981) is a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioner, mixed martial artist and submission wrestler. He is a two-time World Black Belt Absolute (open weight) World ...

, and

Josh Barnett Joshua Lawrence Barnett (born November 10, 1977) is an American mixed martial artist, submission grappler, professional wrestler and color commentator currently signed to Bellator MMA, where he competes in their Heavyweight division. Barnett p ...

. * The Average TBS broadcast rating was 9.0 with a peak of 13.4 during the Akiyama vs. Tonooka fight. Announced attendance was 25,000. * Mirko Cro Cop was taken to a hospital for treatment and was unavailable for post-fight comments.

Tournament bonuses

*Semifinalists Zelg Galesic and Melvin Manhoef both earned a 1,000,000円 bonus for their performance in the tournament. *Runner-up Ronaldo 'Jacare' Souza received a 3,000,000円 bonus for his efforts. *Winner

earned a 10,000,000円 bonus to become Dream's first Middle-Weight Champion.

References

External links

Dream 6 official card
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dream 006 Dream (mixed martial arts) events 2008 in mixed martial arts Mixed martial arts in Japan Sport in Saitama (city) 2008 in Japan