Gegard Mousasi Puts the “Alligator” to Sleep at DREAM.6

September 23, 2008 couldn’t have gone any better for 23 year old Gegard Mousasi from Armenia.

Mousasi went two and two at Tuesday’s DREAM.6 Middleweight Grand Prix to become the first ever DREAM Middleweight Champion defeating Melvin Manhoef and favorite Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza in a combined time of 3:43.

Even more impressive, he left the Saitama Super Arena with the gold belt strapped around his waist virtually unscathed. Pretty amazing feat considering Manhoef smashed legend Kazushi Sakuraba in a 1:30 at DREAM.4 and “Jacare” nearly snapped Zelg Galesic’s arm in an earlier semifinal.

Mousasi made both of his bouts look easy, exposing Manhoefs lack of ground skills in the semifinal and proving that “Jacare” is human with a beautiful KO upkick in the Middleweight GP final.

The final against Ronaldo Souza was a shocking upset. Souza was a big favorite to win the tournament and for good reason. Souza, a legend in the jiu-jitsu world, had not lost a fight since 2003 when he lost his first pro match to Jorge Patino. The 28 year old Brazilian stormed through his first 10 opponents in convincing fashion, submitting 9 out of the 10 all in the first round.

People were expecting a similar fate for that of Mousasi who’s ground skills were no where near the caliber of Souza’s. Both Souza and Mousasi went into the final fresh with hardly any energy expended in their semifinal bouts.

At first things were going as planned for Souza who scored a quick takedown into Mousasi’s guard. But as Souza postured up and came down with a haymaker, Mousasi caught him square on the chin with a perfectly timed upkick that instantly put the “Alligator” to sleep. Gegard, wanting to make sure that Souza wasn’t getting up, threw a quick barrage of awkward side punches for good measure and the ref jumped in to call the fight.

This bout was no doubt the highlight of the young Armenian’s mixed martial arts career.