In what will surely be remembered as one of the greatest upkick knockouts in MMA history, Gegard Mousasi upset Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza  to win the DREAM middleweight grand prix title.

The bout capped off Dream 6: Middle Weight Grand Prix 2008 Final, which took place yesterday in front of an announced crowd of 25,000 at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.

The complete five-hour broadcast of the event aired live on HDNet in North America.

Fighting twice in one night to win the title, Mousasi left the event with virtually no damage. After an easy win in his semifinal fight, Mousasi made short work of Souza in the tournament finale. After Souza scored a takedown, he tried to rain down a haymaker, but Mousasi perfectly timed an upkick. The blow caught De Souza square on the chin and knocked him out cold.

The stoppage came at 2:15 of the first round.

Mousasi was in prime shape for the finale after easily defeating Melvin Manhoef in a semifinal fight earlier in the night. Mousasi received no damage and ended the fight soon after securing a triangle choke. Manhoef briefly returned to his feet and tried to slam his way out of the choke, but Mousasi refused to break the hold and forced the tap-out just 88 seconds into the fight.

Likewise, de Souza entered the finale with little more than a scratch after scoring a quick takedown and securing a lightning-quick arm-bar submission once opponent Zelg Galesic tried to escape. The victory came just 87 seconds after the opening bell.

As mentioned on HDNet's broadcast of the event, MMAjunkie.com readers last week cast their votes to predict the grand prix winner. "Jacare" (41 percent) and Manhoef (40 percent) were the clear favorites, with Mousasi (14 percent) coming in a distant third. Galesic garnered five percent of the vote.

Mousasi defeated Denis Kang and Yoon Dong Sik in previous DREAM event to advance to the semifinals.

Dream 6: Middle Weight Grand Prix 2008 Final opened with a with the grand prix's reserve bout. Andrews Nakahara picked up his first professional win and scored a stunning TKO of Yoon just 30 seconds into the second round.

Source: mmajunkie.com