Amsterdam on April 26, Moroșanu was knocked out with a knee strike by Frenchman Freddy Kemayo just seconds into the opening round. Following a first-round knock out of Junichi Sawayashiki at the K-1 World Grand Prix 2008 in Taipei on July 13, Moroșanu rematched Kemayo on November 6 at Local Kombat 31 in Buzău, Romania. He was able to avenge his defeat by winning the match by unanimous decision. He ended the year by defeating Trinidadian brawler Gary Goodridge in a match for the WKN Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship at Local Kombat 32 on December 12. After being dominated for most of the fight, Goodridge quit on his stool at the end of the second round. 2009 Moroșanu began 2009 with a fifty-eight-second knockout of Musab Gulsari at the K-1 Rules Tournament 2009 in Budapest on February 28. In his next match on 16 May at K-1 ColliZion 2009 Mlada Boleslav, he lost by another knee KO in an upset loss to Slovakian Tomas Kohut. He bounced back, however, by knocking out Wiesław Kwaśniewski in round one at K-1 ColliZion 2009 Sarajevo. His KO wins then earned him a chance to compete in a superfight at the K-1 World Grand Prix 2009 in Seoul Final 16 on September 26, where he faced Japanese karate fighter Taiei Kin in a highly-controversial bout. Towards the end of the first round, the "clapper" (the device used to signal the remaining 10 seconds of the round) sounded. Moroșanu seemed to think the sound indicative of the ending of the round, and began walking towards his corner, only to be met by a punch from Kin (who was rightfully continuing in the context of the official rules regarding the fight). The end bell, signifying the officially sanctioned end of the round, sounded moments later. Moroșanu deliberately continued to fight, hitting Taiei (who was defenseless after dropping his hands at the end of the round) with a two punch flurry, knocking him unconscious. Moroșanu was disqualified from the fight, thus giving the victory to Taiei by means of disqualification. The audience present at the show booed the decision awarding Taiei the victory. The crowd believed the punches to have been thrown before or exactly when the bell had sounded. However, video evidence refutes this. He rebounded by beating Samoan-American slugger Mighty Mo in a close match at K-1 ColliZion 2009 Final Elimination on October 24. The bout