Mousasi wins dream middleweight GP MMA tournament in shocking fashion

Gegard Mousasi looked to be on his way to a submission loss to DREAM’s self styled “gator”, Ronaldo Jacare, midway through the first round of their middleweight GP final match in Tokyo. Jacare had been successful keeping the fight on the ground, though Mousasi was able to fend off a submission. Jacare then made a fateful decision, standing up and looking for a big punch. He never knew what hit him and by the time he regained consciousness Mousasi had his hand raised as the DREAM Middleweight Grand Prix champion. The victory also vaulted him to the top of the MMA world, with many experts holding the opinion that the talent at the lighter weight classes in the Japanese promotion is the best anywhere.

Jacare tried a “Superman punch” over the upkicks of the lanky Mousasi, who after missing with the first nailed his second kick perfectly and left the Brazilian knocked out cold. It was the Dutch fighter’s 2nd upset victory of the night, as he had submitted powerful Melvin Manhouf in the semifinal with a nasty triangle choke. Manhouf used his power to pick Mousasi up and tried to slam him down, but instead of breaking the hold it only enabled his opponent to cinch it in deeper necessitating the tapout.

Jacare looked awesome in quickly dispatching of tough Zelig Galesic quickly with a slick armbar. He had been a heavy favorite not only in his semifinal match, but to take the overall tournament victory. It appeared that he was well on the way to the championship before a tactical error—and a well placed kick—changed the course of the fight.

In the co-main event, a long awaited matchup between Mirko Cro Cop and Alistair Overeem ended in a “no contest” after the Croatian striking machine was unable to continue following two low knee strikes. Cro Cop took a few minutes to recover from the first but was unable to continue after the second, with his corner indicating that his testicles had suffered some unspecified injury. Until that point, Overeem had been dominating the fight with his superior size and strength and had opened up a bloody gash right above Cro Cop’s eye. Overeem was gracious in his post fight comments, though it was apparent from his mannerisms that he was very unsatisfied with the outcome.