Dream 6: Middle Weight Grandprix 2008 Final Round was a mixed martial arts event promoted by Fighting and Entertainment Group's mixed martial arts promotion Dream on September 23, 2008. The event hosted the crowning of Dream's first Middleweight Champion, Gegard Mousasi, after the conclusion of the Middleweight Grand Prix.[2]
| Dream 6: Middle Weight Grandprix 2008 Final Round | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 The poster for Dream 6: Middle Weight Grandprix 2008 Final Round | ||||
| Information | ||||
| Promotion | Dream | |||
| Date | September 23, 2008 | |||
| Venue | Saitama Super Arena | |||
| City |  Saitama, Japan | |||
| Attendance | 25,000[1] | |||
| Event chronology | ||||
| ||||
Background
A bout between Ronaldo Souza and Frank Trigg 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.[3]
Jason Miller made his DREAM debut, facing Katsuyori Shibata in the first round of the Grand Prix.[4]
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.[5]
Japanese superstar Kazushi Sakuraba faced Andrews Nakahara.[6]
The last fight announced was Kiyoshi Tamura against Masakatsu Funaki.[7]
Results
| Middleweight Grand Prix 2008 Final | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weight class | Method | Round | Time | Notes | |||
| Middleweight | Gegard Mousasi | def. | Ronaldo Souza | KO (upkick) | 1 | 2:15 | |
| Main Card | |||||||
| Heavyweight | Alistair Overeem | vs. | Mirko Cro Cop | No Contest (knee to the groin) | 1 | 6:09 | |
| Lightweight | Shinya Aoki | def. | Todd Moore | Submission (neck crank) | 1 | 1:10 | |
| Middleweight | Yoshihiro Akiyama | def. | Masanori Tonooka | Submission (armbar) | 1 | 6:26 | |
| Welterweight | Hayato Sakurai | def. | Kuniyoshi Hironaka | Decision (unanimous) | 2 | 5:00 | |
| Middleweight | Masakatsu Funaki | def. | Ikuhisa Minowa | Submission (heel hook) | 1 | 0:52 | |
| Featherweight | Atsushi Yamamoto | def. | Hideo Tokoro | Decision (unanimous) | 2 | 5:00 | |
| Heavyweight | Sergei Kharitonov | def. | Jimmy Ambriz | Submission (punches) | 1 | 2:15 | |
| Lightweight | Keita Nakamura | def. | Adriano Martins | Decision (split) | 2 | 5:00 | |
| Middleweight Grand Prix Semi final | |||||||
| Middleweight | Ronaldo Souza | def. | Zelg Galesic | Submission (armbar) | 1 | 1:27 | |
| Middleweight | Gegard Mousasi | def. | Melvin Manhoef | Submission (triangle choke) | 1 | 1:28 | |
| Middleweight Grand Prix reserve bout | |||||||
| Middleweight | Andrews Nakahara | def. | Dong Sik Yoon | TKO (punches) | 2 | 0:30 | |
2008 Middleweight Grand Prix bracket
| First round | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Finals | ||||||||||||||||
 | Ronaldo Souza | W Sub | |||||||||||||||||
 | Ian Murphy | ||||||||||||||||||
| | Ronaldo Souza | W Dec | |||||||||||||||||
| | Jason Miller | ||||||||||||||||||
| | Jason Miller | W TKO | |||||||||||||||||
| | Katsuyori Shibata | ||||||||||||||||||
| | Ronaldo Souza | W Sub | |||||||||||||||||
 | Zelg Galesic | ||||||||||||||||||
| | Zelg Galesic | W Sub | |||||||||||||||||
 | Magomed Sultanakhmedov | ||||||||||||||||||
| | Zelg Galesic | W TKO | |||||||||||||||||
| | Taiei Kin | ||||||||||||||||||
| | Taiei Kin | W Dec | |||||||||||||||||
| | Ikuhisa Minowa | ||||||||||||||||||
| | Ronaldo Souza | ||||||||||||||||||
 | Gegard Mousasi | W KO | |||||||||||||||||
| | Gegard Mousasi | W Sub | |||||||||||||||||
 | Denis Kang | ||||||||||||||||||
| | Gegard Mousasi | W Dec | |||||||||||||||||
 | Yoon Dong-Sik | ||||||||||||||||||
| | Yoon Dong-Sik | W Dec | |||||||||||||||||
| | Shungo Oyama | ||||||||||||||||||
| | Gegard Mousasi | W SUB | |||||||||||||||||
 | Melvin Manhoef | ||||||||||||||||||
| | Kazushi Sakuraba | W Sub | |||||||||||||||||
| | Andrews Nakahara | ||||||||||||||||||
| | Kazushi Sakuraba | ||||||||||||||||||
| | Melvin Manhoef** | Win KO | |||||||||||||||||
| | Kiyoshi Tamura | W TKO | |||||||||||||||||
| | Masakatsu Funaki | ||||||||||||||||||
** = Replacement
Dream Middleweight Grand Prix Reserve Bouts:
Melvin Manhoef def. 
Dae Won Kim at Dream 3
Andrews Nakahara def. Yoon Dong-sik at Dream 6
Notes
- Badr Hari 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"[8]
- Fedor Emelianenko announced his desire to participate in Dream's New Year show: Fields Dynamite!! 2008 on December 31 at the Saitama Super Arena. He was expected to face the winner of the Cro Cop vs. Overeem bout, but due to the No Contest, his opponent remained undecided.[9]
- 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 fighters were in attendance and Yoshihiro Akiyama hinted at a potential merger on the horizon by declaring he wanted to fight Hidehiko Yoshida next. Notable WVR fighters at Dream.6 included Takanori Gomi, Xande Ribeiro, and Josh Barnett.
- 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 Gegard Mousasi earned a 10,000,000円 bonus to become Dream's first Middle-Weight Champion.