DREAM 6 Crowns Gegard Mousasi New Middleweight Grand Prix Champion!

Gegard Mousasi 24-2-1 won the DREAM Middleweight Grand Prix in under 4 minutes! Gegard started with the dubious task of fighting the stand up kickboxing machine from Holland, Melvin Manhoef. Melvin, who has won 21 of his 22 wins by TKO or KO, so Mousasi was smart to take things to the mat. There he secured a triangle choke (the same move he tapped out Denis Kang with in the 1st round of the tourney) but Manhoef lifted him into the air for a Rampage style slam, but Gegard cinched in the choke tighter and Melvin was tapping once back on Earth. Fight time: 1:28
Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza, got himself to the semi-finals quickly as well, tapping Croatia's Zelg Galesic in an "I can do better" 1:27. Cro Cop's student failed after but one kick foreshadowing his teachers demise.

In the Grand Prix finals, Souza, the Jiu-Jitsu genius, shot and shot again for Mousasi's legs finally taking him to the mat with the obvious advantage, though Gegard's 8 submission wins are nothing to sneeze at. Then battling for position, Gegard threw an upkick KOing the Brazilian fighter before he hit the mat where Mousasi stopped the fight before the ref did. The new Champion calmly moved his fallen opponent off of him and in his normal, humble and unassuming way, celebrated with a bit of a smile and not much else. My 1st spotlight for "MMA On The Fringe," the award winning column highlighting future MMA stars, has made me a proud pappa as Gegard Mousasi puts the belts around his waist.

Mirko Cro Cop and Alistair Overeem, neither known for trash talk, both came into this fight with chips on their shoulders and lots to say. Overeem called Cro Cop "old," "a chicken," and a "douche bag." Mirko responded, "In this sport, its normal to threaten a little and provoke. But I think he crossed a line. He says that he will knock me down in this minute or in that minute, that he will beat me down, that I am old. So I will say this: If he really degrades me as much as he says he will, I will go to Amsterdam to their Dam Square. I will throw myself in a barrel full of tar and pour some feathers onto myself. Then I will run around on Dam Square until the police arrest me. I assume forced hospitalization will be next, and then I will wait for them to deport me back to Zagreb, Croatia." Pretty funny stuff though the fight was not. Cro Cop was taken down (of course) and Overeem landed some shots and cut Mirko across the eye. Back to the fight after not much and Cro Cop lands a big kick but again is taken down. Eye bleeds, doctors check it, fight starts again. Now the 2 men clinch up repeatedly as Alistair lands not 1, not 2, but 4 knees to the groin of Flipovic sending him to the canvas in pain. Warnings and yellow cards didn't stop Overeem and the fight was ruled a NC (no contest). It was the doctor who stopped the fight though Mirko wanted to continue. My guess is this isn't over.

The rest of the DREAM 6 card went this way:
Andrews Nakahara defeated Dong Sik Yoon by TKO (Punches) 2 0:30
Keita Nakamura edged out Adriano Martins via Decision (Split) 2 5:00
Sergei Kharitonov pummeled the giant Jimmy Ambriz into Submission (Punches) 1 2:15
Atsushi Yamamoto took Hideo Tokoro to a Decision (Unanimous) win 2 5:00
Masakatsu Funaki embarrassed Ikuhisa Minowa winning by Submission (Heel Hook) 1 0:52
Hayato Sakurai beat Kuniyoshi Hironaka by Decision (Unanimous) 2 5:00
Yoshihiro Akiyama defeated Masanori Tonooka via Submission (Armbar) 1 6:26
Shinya Aoki tapped out Todd Moore by (shock of shocks) Submission (Neck Crank) 1 1:10
7-3 on the picking side