Round. However, he was knocked out (and thus eliminated from the tournament) by Melvin Manhoef in the main event of Dream 4: Middle Weight Grandprix 2008 2nd Round. During the match, Sakuraba suffered an ulnar fracture of the left forearm, which was caused by a kick from Manhoef. Finally it was announced that Kiyoshi Tamura and Kazushi Sakuraba were set to fight at the K-1 Dynamite!! 2008 event on December 31. The fight featured Sakuraba fighting mostly from his back, attempting armbars, kneebars and triangle chokes from his guard while Tamura defended them and applied ground and pound. At the end of the first round, Sakuraba appeared to have an armbar locked in, but the bell sounded before he could extend the arm. Tamura held on at the second, controlling much of the action and consistently kicking Sakuraba's injured legs; he was taken down in the final minute by Sakuraba, who immediately launched a barrage of punches, only for the bell to end his attacks again. Ultimately, Tamura was awarded a unanimous decision. After his return to Dream, Sakuraba defeated boxer turned mixed martial artist Rubin Williams at Dream 11, before facing Croatian Zelg Galesic on Dream 12. Sakuraba took Galesic to the ground via single leg takedown and he immediately transitioned to a leg lock. Galesic tried to defend himself against the submission by raining punches on Sakuraba. Sakuraba absorbed the punches and held on to Galesic's leg until he successfully made the Croatian tap out due to a kneebar. On May 29 he faced Ralek Gracie, at the Saitama Super Arena in Dream 14. It would be the sixth time Sakuraba faced a Gracie, albeit this time with a deep age difference, given the Japanese (41) and the Brazilian (24)'s respective ages. During the match, the wrestler performed significantly against the young Gracie, but the latter kept dominating, evidencing a training specialized to counter Sakuraba's style. There was controversy towards the end of the fight, as Sakuraba seemed to have secured a kimura, only to the referee to pause the match to pull up Ralek's pants. The pause allowed the Brazilian to come back with an armbar, which Kazushi escaped to meet a unanimous decision win for Gracie. On September 25, at Dream 16, Sakuraba lost to Jason "Mayhem" Miller via arm triangle choke. Sakuraba fought for the Dream Welterweight Championship against current champion Marius Zaromskis at Dynamite!!