Sakurai improves to 35-8-2 with the victory and now advances to the semifinals of the promotion’s 2009 welterweight grand prix while Aoki, who falls to 20-4 with the loss, is likely to return to the lightweight division for his next bout.

With victories at DREAM 8, Jason High, Marius Zaromskis, and Andre Galvao also advanced to the welterweight semis.

The opening round of DREAM’s featherweight grand prix, which got underway with six bouts at DREAM 7, concluded on Sunday as Daiki “DJ.taiki” Hata advanced with a win over Hideo Tokoro.

Notables Jeff Monson and Vitor “Shaolin” Ribeiro also picked up wins in non-tournament action, while Murilo “Ninja” Rua dropped an exciting unanimous decision to late-replacement Riki Fukuda.

The official DREAM 8 results were:

• Hayato “Mach” Sakurai def. Shinya Aoki via TKO (strikes) — Round 1, 0:27*
• Jason High def. Yuya Shirai via technical submission (rear naked choke) — Round 1, 0:59*
• Marius Zaromskis def. Seichi Ikemoto via unanimous decision*
• Andre Galvao def. John Alessio via submission (armbar) — Round 1, 7:34*
• Daiki “DJ.taiki” Hata def. Hideo Tokoro via unanimous decision^
• Jeff Monson def. Sergei Kharitonov via submission (north-south choke) – Round 1, 1:42
• Riki Fukuda def. Murilo “Ninja” Rua via unanimous decision
• Vitor “Shaolin” Ribeiro def. Katsuhiko Nagata via TKO (cut) – Round 1, 7:58
• Andrews Nakahara def. Shungo Oyama via TKO (strikes) – Round 1, 2:00
• Katsutori Shibata def. Ikuhisa “Minowaman” Minowa via unanimous decision

* 2009 DREAM Welterweight GP quarterfinals bout
^ 2009 DREAM Featherweight GP opening round bout

Videos:

Hayato “Mach” Sakurai vs. Shinya Aoki

Jason High vs. Yuya Shira

Jeff Monson vs. Sergei Kharitonov

The event will air via tape-delay on HDNet and features the opening round of the DREAM welterweight grand prix as well as the final bout from DREAM’s featherweight grand prix opening round.

Riki Fukuda has agreed to fight fellow middleweight Murilo “Ninja” Rua on just one days notice after his scheduled opponent, Dong Sik Yoon, was forced out of their bout due to an undisclosed injury.

The official DREAM 8 weigh-in results were:

• Hayato “Mach” Sakurai (75.9kg/167 lbs.) vs. Shinya Aoki (73.5kg/161.7 lbs.)
• Yuya Shirai (75.7kg/166.5 lbs.) vs. Jason High (75.9kg/167 lbs.)
• Marius Zaromskis (75.5kg/166.1 lbs.) vs. Seichi Ikemoto (75.7kg/166.5 lbs.)
• John Alessio (76.0kg/167.2 lbs.) vs. Andre Galvao (76.0kg/167.2 lbs.)
• Hideo Tokoro (62.3kg/137 lbs.) vs. Daiki “DJ.taiki” Hata (63.0kg/138.6 lbs.)
• Sergei Kharitonov (116.5kg/256.3 lbs.) vs. Jeff Monson (110.0kg/242 lbs.
• Riki Fukuda (88.8kg/195.4 lbs.) vs. Murilo “Ninja” Rua (88.0kg/193.6 lbs.)
• Vitor “Shaolin” Ribeiro (69.7kg/153.3 lbs.) vs. Katsuhiko Nagata (70.0kg/154 lbs.)
• Andrews Nakahara (85.0kg/187 lbs.) vs. Shungo Oyama (85.7kg/188.5 lbs.)
• Katsuyori Shibata (86.2 kg/189.6 lbs.) vs. Ikuhisa Minowa (87.0 kg/191.4 lbs.)

Stop by MMAFrenzy.com tomorrow afternoon for official DREAM 8 results.

Announced today were the opening round GP matchups of Shinya Aoki vs. Hayato “Mach” Sakurai, Yuya Shirai vs. Jason High, Marius Zaromskis vs. Seichi Ikemoto, and Andre Galvao vs. John Alessio. A non-tournament bout featuring Jeff Monson and Sergey Kharitonov was also announced.

DREAm 8 airs on HDNet on April 10th at 10pm ET.

The event’s official lineup features:

Welterweight Grand Prix Opening Round

• Hayato “Mach” Sakurai vs. Shinya Aoki
• Yuya Shirai vs. Jason High
• Marius Zaromskis vs. Seichi Ikemoto
• John Alessio vs. Andre Galvao

Featherweight Grand Prix Opening Round

• Hideo Tokoro vs. Daiki Hata

Non-Grand Prix Bouts

• Katsuyori Shibata vs. Ikuhisa Minowa
• Dong Sik Yoon vs. Murilo “Ninja” Rua
• Andrews Nakahara vs. Shungo Oyama
• Sergei Kharitonov vs. Jeff Monson

The now-complete fight card features:

• Winner of Manhoef-Mousasi vs. winner of Galesic-Souza
  Middleweight Grand Prix Final
• Melvin Manhoef vs. Gegard Mousasi
  Middleweight Grand Prix Semifinal
• Zelg Galesic vs. Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza
  Middleweight Grand Prix Semifinal
• Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic vs. Alistair Overeem
• Sergei Kharitonov vs. Siala “Mighty Mo” Siliga
• Keita Nakamura vs. Adriano Martins
• Ikuhisa Minowa vs. Masakatsu Funaki
• Hayato Sakurai vs. Kuniyoshi Hironaka
• Yoshihiro Akiyama vs. Masanori Tonooka
• Hideo Tokoro vs. Atsushi Yamamoto
• Yoon Dong Sik vs. Andrews Nakahara
  Middleweight Grand Prix Reserve Bout