Dream Welterweight Grand Prix Semi-Final
Hayato Sakurai (35-8-2) vs. Marius Zaromskis (9-2)

The Storyline: Many experts were proclaiming the end of Sakurai as an elite level fighter after a few uninspired showings in 2008, which culminated in a guillotine choke submission loss to solid but unspectacular Frenchman David Baron. However, his 27-second massacre of Dream poster boy Shinya Aoki in the Dream 8 main event three months ago provided a clear sign of life to anybody who had given up on the former Shooto middleweight champion.

Even though he has just a quarter of Sakurai’s experience, Zaromskis had to refute similar doubts. Many of the issues experts had with the Lithuanian knockout artist stem from two decisive defeats to former Cage Rage British welterweight champion Che Mills. With an entertaining decision victory over Seichi Ikemoto in April, Zaromskis took the first step toward proving his critics wrong.

The Breakdown: Everything Zaromskis does, Sakurai does better. “Mach” is far more versed on the ground, has a huge edge in experience and punches every bit as hard as the Lithuanian. Zaromskis does stand the proverbial puncher’s chance, but most pundits agree Sakurai is simply too elusive to get caught. In fact, some bookmakers have set him up as high as a five-to-one favorite.

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The Prediction: From the opening bell in April, this has been Sakurai’s tournament to lose. Expect him to knock out Zaromskis late in the first round, repeat that feat against the winner of the other semi-final and snatch his second championship and first tournament victory.