DREAM 4: Middleweight Grand Prix Round 2

by Jesse Holland on May 23, 2008 12:54 PM EDT

dream 4
The Japanese-based DREAM mixed martial arts promotion recently announced five bouts for the second round of its middleweight grand prix tournament slated for the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan, on June 15.

Among the notable competitors are Jason "Mayhem" Miller (21-5) vs. Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza (8-1). Miller was last seen in action on May 11 at DREAM 3, where he defeated Katsuyori Shibata by TKO. Souza is also coming off a DREAM win, when he submitted Ian Murphy back on April 29 in the opening round of the GP.

In one of the more lopsided match-ups, elder statesmen Kazushi Sakuraba (24-10-1) is being fed to Dutch kickboxer "Marvelous" Melvin Manhoef (21-4-1). Sakuraba was able to get past the opening round of the grand prix by submitting Andrews Nakahara, but he is going to have his head taken off against Manhoef if he stays on his feet.

Manhoef, like Miller, is coming off a TKO win on May 11 when he obliterated Dae Won Kim with punches and knees at DREAM 3. Considering he's ended his last four fights via (T)KO, we can only hope that Sakuraba is a religious man.

Here are the matches for the second round of the middleweight GP:

Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Melvin Manhoef
Gegard Mousasi vs. Dong Sik Yoon
Jason "Mayhem" Miller vs. Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza
Zelg Galesic vs. Taiei Kin

Shinya Aoki will also take on Nagata Katsuhiko to determine the fourth and final man to advance to the semifinals of the 2008 DREAM Lightweight Grand Prix.

The night was also supposed to feature the main event of former PRIDE and UFC heavyweight Mirko Cro Cop (23-6-2) facing decorated K-1 kickboxing champion, Jerome LeBanner (3-1), but a minor leg injury to the Croation striker forced that bout to be moved to DREAM 5 on July 20.

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Comments

Mayham miller! vs Jacare Souza! i caant wait to see this one!

by matthew on May 23, 2008 1:09 PM EDT reply actions

I have the feeling that I’m sorely missing out by not knowing much about either of these two guys. Time for some research!

by chefdaddy on May 23, 2008 1:20 PM EDT up reply actions

Finally we get to see what jacare is made of!!

by Insain on May 23, 2008 1:55 PM EDT up reply actions

Great Picture, you got Jacre doing the Aligator Crawl….I love it!!!

Jesse…..Saying Sakuraba will lose is like blasphemy although i do admit that he may get his head taken off if he keeps it standing, still coments like that about Sauraba the GOD are Blasphemy on this site!

Good write up though.

Thanks to everyone who voted for the Jacre vs. Mayhem match up.

Dont sleep on Moussasi vs. Dong Sik YOon, that will be a war!

And of course the great Aoki will win by some exotic submission!

by john on May 23, 2008 2:38 PM EDT up reply actions

dong sik yoon….the man phil baroni once called pork fried rice haha. not a bad fighter though. that should be a great fight

by Phil on May 23, 2008 9:16 PM EDT up reply actions

Moussasi is badass…

by JB on May 23, 2008 10:54 PM EDT up reply actions

I’m pumped up about the Saku/Manhoef fight.

by pamirec on May 23, 2008 1:22 PM EDT reply actions

Saku – Manhoef? I don’t even know what to say …

by YouTapped on May 23, 2008 1:23 PM EDT reply actions

like i said great stuff. hope dream stays around for a while.

by b.w. on May 23, 2008 1:23 PM EDT reply actions

Wow, another CroCop fight postponed. What a weiner

by RUSH on May 23, 2008 1:29 PM EDT reply actions

If you have such a low opinion of him, what’s it to you? Beside – as he stated in an interview – it was not his decision to postpone it, the DSE officials did it after he informed them about the minor injury.

I for one welcome that he’ll fight at full capacity against LeBanner, who’s a top-class kickboxer, rather than someone making excuses and blaming an injury…

by YouTapped on May 23, 2008 1:42 PM EDT up reply actions

Does anyone else see something wrong here? U can’t have 10 people in the quarterfinals of a tourney. U’ll have 5 winners then what are the match ups. Every round has to be a power of 2. Can someone explain how this works?

by EazyEismydad on May 23, 2008 1:53 PM EDT reply actions

Nevermind im a dumbass. I didn’t realize the last fight on the list was the Aoki fight. It’s kind of written weird so I didn’t see it at first.

by EazyEismydad on May 23, 2008 2:03 PM EDT up reply actions

dont worry i was confused too

by mma dude on May 23, 2008 2:10 PM EDT up reply actions

why do the japanese want to kill Sakuraba?

by mma dude on May 23, 2008 2:09 PM EDT reply actions

Sakuraba is as smart as he is tough. I’ll always give him the benefit of the doubt. I honestly have not heard of Manhoef before. Miller is one of my new favorites. That dude is awesome.

by Landowner on May 23, 2008 2:21 PM EDT reply actions

Awesome match-ups. Can’t wait to see those fights.

by Toms Bombs on May 23, 2008 2:27 PM EDT reply actions

MANHOEFS GONNA DESTROY SAKURABA !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

by skoler12 on May 23, 2008 2:52 PM EDT reply actions

Saku can catch Manhoef in a sub

I was at the K-1 show and Manhoef got subbed by some weak ass korean judo fighter who was 1-2 at the time

If Saku can get him to the ground, he can sub him, watch

by UFCPreview.com on May 23, 2008 3:42 PM EDT reply actions

Don’t hate on Dong. He may not be the best fighter in the world but taking on Sakuraba, Rampage and Bustamante early in your career is obviously gonna make you look like a “weak ass korean judo fighter”.

Agree that if Sakuraba can get him down he should get the sub, unfortunatey i think he’ll get knocked senseless before that happens…

by Fenrsz on May 23, 2008 8:07 PM EDT reply actions

man i want to see jacare tap mayhem so bad!

by kazai on May 23, 2008 9:47 PM EDT reply actions

I like both Melvin and Sakuraba. While I feel inclined to agree with the general consensus on the match, it is important to remember that wrestlers and grapplers have a half-life that exceeds that of a standard fighter. I wouldn’t count Saku out entirely. All it takes is for Manhoef to be off-balance for a single moment.

Nevertheless, Manhoef via Submission due to strikes in 1.

by kneetotheface on May 23, 2008 9:51 PM EDT reply actions

Also, I think Jacare has very under-rated striking. I take Jacare via decision. And of course Shinya via submission in 1…not much to say except Aoki is better than any LW wrestler.

by kneetotheface on May 23, 2008 9:54 PM EDT reply actions