His alpha personality is the reason Gaara used those choice of words and not killed so he wouldn't hurt his pride. Susanoo and enton can both be used as a defense/offense. so Raikage was more likely to die while Sasuke had a better chance of surviving. The sand dominated because of the pure amount Gaara had. He whipped out a ton more sand than Sasuke can produce in flame.Raikage has an alpha personality. He's also reckless. He knew straight away to cut his wounds and have Cee stopped the bleeding. Ay was happy to hear Gaaras interference was to protect him (his leader) as he sees it. It's very simple. He has a big ego and doesn't like others challenging him.
Sand still dominated easily btw.