At the beginning of every month on MMAOddsBreaker, I feature my recurring “Veteran Watch” article which takes a look at some notable veterans competing on the regional/overseas circuit. In this article I recap how these veteran fighters fared in their respective bouts for the month of August. Sept 1st – ONE FC 30: Dynasty of Champions (Shanghai, China) Roger Huerta (22-7-1) vs. Koji Ando (11-4-0) [CANCELLED] Event was cancelled per Tapology Sept 11th – Legacy FC 45: Todhunter vs. Smith (Tulsa, Oklahoma) Sean Soriano (8-3-0) vs. James Warren (6-2-0) [CANCELLED] Per Tapology Soriano had to pull out due to injury Sept 12th – GRANDSLAM 3 (Tokyo, Japan) Michihiro Omigawa def. Yoshifumi Nakamura via Unanimous decision UFC veteran Omigawa earns his third straight win and Nakamura has now lost two in a row after his previous five-fight win streak. Sept 12th – Huawu Fight (Shandong, China) Will Chope def. Kazushi Sugiyama via Submission (Choke) RD.1 UFC veteran Chope earns his second win in a row, and improved his record to 7-1 in his last eight fights. Sept 12th – Absolute Championship Berkut 22 (St. Petersburg, Russia) Jesse Ronson (15-5-0) vs. Frodo Khasbulaev (21-5-0) [CANCELLED] Bout cancelled due to VISA issues for Ronson. Sept 12th – Face to Face 12 (Espirito Santo, Brazil) Pedro Rizzo def. Andrew Flores Smith via TKO at 5:00, RD. 1 Rizzo earns his first win since 2010 as he took out late replacement Smith who filled in for Travis Fulton who was pulled due to an illness. Rizzo announced after the fight that he had officially retired from the sport. Sept 12th – Cage Fury FC 51 (Bethlehem, Pennsylvania) Louis Gaudinot def. Claudio Ledesma via Unanimous Decision UFC veteran Gaudinot snaps his two-fight losing streak and earned his first win since 2012. Ledesma had his two-fight win streak snapped. Sept 19th – Cage MMA Finland 31 (Helsinki, Finland) Anton Kuivanen def. Eric Reynolds via Unanimous Decision UFC veteran Kuivanen earns his third straight victory over WSOF/Bellator veteran Reynolds. These two previously fought at Cage MMA Finald 23 where the American ended up knocking out Kuivanen just 30 seconds into the first round. Sept 19th – Chosen Few FC 6 (Madison, Wisconsin) Eric Schafer def. Eric Hammerich via Submission, RD. 1. UFC veteran Schafer earned his first win since 2013 and subsequently earned his first two-fight win streak 2009. Hammerich has now lost five in a row and hasn’t won a fight since 2012. Sept 25th – Fight Nights: Dagestan (Makhachkala, Russia) Vitaly Minakov def. Gerônimo Dos Santos via Submission (Armlock) at 3:14, RD. 1 The Bellator heavyweight champion Minakov keeps his undefeated record in tact as he handed Dos Santos just his second loss in his last 16-fights. This was also the second straight win for Minikov outside the Bellator promotion. Sept 25th – Tribal Gear/ Dutdutan 15 (Phillipines) Will Chope def. Patrick Manicad via Submission, RD. 1 With the win, Chope goes 2-0 in the month of September and has competed seven times this year overall. Sept 25th – Unified MMA 24 (Edmonton, Alberta) Tanner Boser def. Victor Valimaki via TKO (Leg Kicks) at 2:53, RD. 2. 24-year old Boser has now won 7 of his last 8 bouts while UFC veteran Valimaki is now 2-2 in his last four fights. With an impressive 8-1 record, don’t be surprised if Boser gets a call up from one of the bigger promotions. Sept 25th – Ring of Combat 52 (Atlantic City, New Jersey) Elijah Harshburger def. Pete Sell via Unanimous Decision Harshburger earns just the second win of his career by decision as he takes out the UFC veteran in the ROC 52 main event. Sell competed for the first time since 2012 and has now lost two of his last three fights. Renee Forte (8-4-0) vs. Randy Brown (4-0-0) [CANCELLED] Bout was cancelled per Tapology. Sept 26th – Shamrock FC: Clash (Kansas City, Missouri) Bobby Voelker def. Mike Estus via TKO (punches) at 1:27, RD 1. With the victory, Voelker is now on a three-fight winning streak since his UFC release and has recorded all three wins via TKO.
