DREAM 10 Welterweight Grand Prix Final Round 7/20/09 Re-Cap

DREAM.10 Welterweight Grand Prix Final Round (7/20/09) – Saitama, Japan (Saitama Super Arena)

Welterweight Grand Prix Semifinals: Hayato Sakurai (35-8-2) vs. Marius Zaromskis (9-2)

Sakurai won his first round fight against Top Lightweight Shinya Aoki by TKO. Zaromskis won by decision against Seichi Ikemoto. Sakurai comes in as the favorite to win this tournament but he had a really tough time cutting weight and had to be weighed like three times before he finally made weight so it will be interesting to see how ready he is for this fight.

R1- Both guys are really throwing leather early. Zaromskis hit some good punches and then tried a flying knee but didn’t fully connect. The first minute and a half of this fight has been a slugfest. Sakurai got a take down at the two minute mark. Sakurai has a cut under his eye. They are back on their feet and throwing leather but the ref stops the fight to look at the eye. Zaromskis landed a big left round kick and Sakurai leaned in and then Zaromskis jumped on top and the ref dove in to stop the fight. This was a fun brawl. Big upset for Zaromskis!

Winner: Marius Zaromskis by TKO (Strikes) R1 4:03

Welterweight Grand Prix Semifinals: André Galvão (3-0) vs. Jason High (7-1)

Galvao won his first round fight against John Alessio by Arm Bar Submission in the first round. High won his first round fight against Yuya Shirai by Rear Naked Choke in less than a minute. Galvao seems to be the favorite going into this fight.

R1- Unfortunately did not get a chance to see this fight.

Winner: Jason High by Decision (Split)

Lightweight Fight- Katsunori Kikuno (11-1-1) vs. André Amade (6-3-1)

Kikuno is on a 10 fight win streak dating back to 2006. Amade is on a two fight losing streak with those losses coming to Eddie Alvarez and JZ Cavalcante. Amade does hold a win over Caol Uno.

R1- Amade went for some haymakers early and then landed a right hand that floored Kikuno but he got back to his feet. Not a lot of action in the first part of this round and the ref warns them to be more active. Kikuno got a take down and mounted Amade. Amade gave up his back and Kikuno pelted his ears with strikes and the ref stepped in and stopped the fight. Once Kikuno got the take down he was all over Amade.

Winner: Katsunori Kikuno by TKO (Strikes) R1 3:47

Middleweight Fight- Jesse Taylor (12-3) vs. Dong Sik Yoon (4-6)

Taylor is on a 6 fight win streak with his last loss being to CB Dollaway at UFC Fight Night 14. Yoon is on a two fight losing streak with one of those losses coming to Gegard Mousasi. Yoon does hold a career win over Melvin Manhoef.

R1- Taylor went for a quick take down and was able to eventually get Yoon down to the ground. Taylor kept a dominant position and the fight ended awkwardly with Yoon giving up as it looked like he hurt himself.

Winner: Jesse Taylor by Submission (Injury) R1 1:02

Middleweight Fight- Paulo Filho (16-1) vs. Melvin Manhoef (23-5-1)

Manhoef has won 6 of his last 7 fights with the loss coming to Gegard Mousasi. Filho is a former WEC Middleweight Champion who was once considered one of the Top Middleweights in the world before having a meltdown in the ring in a loss against Chael Sonnen in his last fight back in November of 2008. Apparently Filho came into the fight thinking it was at a different weight and had to quickly drop 9 pounds to get to the right weight for the fight.

R1- Filho tried to work a take down early but Manhoef fought him off and then threw some bombs but they didn’t land. Manhoef avoided another take down and then landed some shots. Manhoef nailed Filho and Filho went down. Manhoef jumped on top but couldn’t finish. Filho did a good job of weathering the storm. Back to their feet and Manhoef threw bombs again but Filho got a take down and went for an arm bar and won the fight. Good fight, great job by Filho in absorbing punishment and coming back for the win.

Winner: Paulo Filho by Submission (Arm Bar) R1 2:36

Lightweight Fight- Shinya Aoki (20-4) vs. Vitor Ribeiro (20-2)

R1- Aoki is landing some good kicks to Vitor’s elbow. Surprisingly they have kept the fight standing for the maority of the round. Not a real exciting first round but Aoki is controlling the fight so far but it’s still anybody’s fight going into the 2nd and final round.

R2- About half way through the round Vitor got a take down. Aoki used the rubber guard at times to control Vitor but it was pretty much a stale mate on the ground. I think Aoki will get the decision based on his control of the first round. Not a real good fight.

Winner: Shinya Aoki by Decision (Unanimous)

Welterweight Grand Prix Finals: Marius Zaromskis (10-2) vs. Jason High (8-1)

If you asked most MMA fans who they thought would be in the finals of this tournament it would have been Sakurai and Galvao so these two guys being here is a big upset. The winner of this will definitely rise up the ladder much like Gegard Mousasi did when he won the Middleweight Tournament.

R1- Zaromskis went for a flying knee immediately but High clinched him and eventually got him down on the mat. Zaromskis was able to take High’s guard after High failed ot lock in a guillotine but the fight went quickly back to the feet. Out of nowhere Zaromskis threw a couple punches and then a quick high right kick and knocked High out. Fantastic knockout finish and big time tournament win by Zaromskis. On the re-play Zaromskis actually got in a right hand after hitting the leg kick as High just kind of stiffened up before he fell.

Winner and new DREAM Welterweight Champion: Marius Zaromskis by KO (High Kick) R1