When fighters are given their release from a major North American MMA promotion like the UFC, Bellator, WSOF or Titan – unless they’re a major star – they often fall into obscurity on the regional/overseas circuit unless they rack up a few wins and end up signing with one of the aforementioned promotions. In this regular feature for MMAOddsBreaker, I take a look at some regional/overseas matchups for the month of December and rather than listing off the top fights outside these major organizations, I highlight some familiar names that you might recognize on upcoming events. Dec 4th – M-1 Challenge 63: Puetz vs. Nemkov 2 (St. Petersburg, Russia) Luigi Fioravanti (26-13-0) vs. Ramazan Emeev (12-3) UFC veteran Fioravanti looks for his third win in his last four fights when he meets Gorets product Emeev. The 34-year old ATT product is coming off a second round submission victory over Sergey Kovalev, which handed the Russian the first loss of his career. His 28-year old opponent Emmev is 9-1 in his last 10 fights. Dec 4th – CFFC 53 (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) Louis Gaudinot (7-4) vs. Sidemar Honorio (11-5) Former UFC flyweight Gaudinot looks for his second straight win outside the octagon as he matches up with Brazilian Honorio. The TUF 14 veteran earned a unanimous decision over Claudio Ledesma in his last fight, winning by unanimous decision at CFFC 51 this past August. Honorio meanwhile has won three straight fights. Dan Spohn (11-4) vs. Azunna Anyanwu (9-3) TUF 19 competitor Spohn looks for his fourth straight win as he faces off with Balance Studios product Anyanwu. Since losing his UFC debut to Pat Walsh at the TUF 19 Finale, Spohn has earned three wins in a row, including two finishes. Anyanwu has gone 5-1 in his last six fights. Dec 5th – XFC International 13 (Sao Paulo, Brazil) Júnior Assunção (15-5) vs. JM. dos Santos Jr. (12-9) UFC veteran Assuncao competes for the first time this year as he takes on fellow Brazilian dos Santos Jr. Since his second UFC release in 2011 (losing to Ross Pearson via unanimous Decision at UFC 141) Assuncao has only competed twice due to injuries and a number of fight cancellations. His opponent dos Santos Jr. has won two in a row since losing via unanimous decision to UFC vet Will Chope last year at Rebel FC 2. Rafael Silva (23-5) vs. Marcos Vinicius (23-9-1) Former Bellator title challenger Silva looks for his second win in a row when he fights UFC vet Vinicius. After losing his interim title fight to Joe Warren at Bellator 118 last year, Silva went 1-1 earning a win over Rob Emerson and losing to Darrion Caldwell. Following his release from Bellator, the 30-year old earned a first round submission victory over Derinaldo Guerra at Aspera FC 24 this past August. Vinicius meanwhile had his three fight win streak snapped in his last fight, losing by unanimous decision to Sidney Oliveira at Frontline Fight Series 1. Dec 5th – XKO 28 (Dallas, Texas) Joseph Sandoval (7-5) vs. Mark De La Rosa (4-0) UFC veteran Sandoval looks to get back on the winning track when he meets undefeated 21-year old De La Rosa. Sandoval competed twice in the octagon, dropping fights to Walel Watson and Nick Denis from 2011 to 2012. De La Rosa made his pro-MMA debut last year and will be competing for the third time in 2015. Dec 11 – Xcessive Force FC 8: Festival of Fists (Grande Prairie, Alberta) Jesse Ronson (15-6) vs. Matt MacGrath (17-8) UFC veteran Ronson looks for his third win in his last four fights when he takes on fellow Canadian MacGrath. After the UFC gave him his walking papers following three straight losses in the octagon, Ronson rebounded with two straight wins over Dom O’Grady and Gadji Zaipulaev. However he’s coming off a unanimous decision loss to Alexander Sarnavskiy at Abu Dhabi Warriors 3. MacGrath meanwhile is on an eight fight win streak including wins over TUF 16 competitor Mike Hill and UFC veteran Mark Holst. Dec 11th – ONE Championship: Spirit of Champions (Manila, Philippines) Brandon Vera (13-7) vs. Chi Lewis-Parry (6-0) Former UFC heavyweight Vera competes for the inagural ONE heavyweight title against undefeated Parry. Vera is coming off an impressive first round victory at ONE FC 23, where he knocked out Igor Subora in the first round. Parry made his MMA debut in 2012 and has never gone the distance in his six fight career. Dec 11th – Fight Nights: Battle 20 (Moscow, Russia) Vitaly Minakov (16-0) vs. Joshua Copeland (11-2) Bellator heavyweight champion Minakov competes for the third straight time outside the promotion when he takes on UFC veteran Copeland. The 30-year old Russian is coming a first round submission victory over Gerônimo Dos Santos at Fight Nights: Dagestan back in September, which was his 15th straight victory. Copeland meanwhile is coming off back to back victories over Jason Ackerman and DJ Linderman since his UFC release earlier this year. Dec 11th – RFA 33: Townsend vs. Chavez (Costa Mesa, California) Ernest Chavez (9-2) vs. Adam Townsend (14-3) Former UFC featherweight Chavez looks to make it two straight wins when he faces 26-year old Townsend. After winning his UFC debut against Yosdenis Cedeno at UFC 170, Chavez lost back to back fights against Elias Silvério and Zubaira Tukhugov which promoted his UFC release. He’s coming off a win over UFC vet Justin Buchholz last month but faces an opponent in Townsend who has won eight straight fights. Dec 12th – Venator FC 2 (Rimini, Italy) Luke Barnatt (8-3) vs. Mattia Schiavolin (12-1-2) TUF 17 competitor Barnatt looks to snap his three fight losing streak when he faces off wit Italian fighter Schiavolin. After losing to Sean Strickland, Roger Narvaez and Mark Muñoz, Barnatt was given his walking papers from the UFC. His 21-year opponent Schiavolin has won three straight fights by knockout and has only gone the distance twice in his career. Karl Amoussou (20-7-2) vs. Simeon Thoresen (17-6-1) Former Bellator title challenger Amoussou looks for his fourth win in a row since his Bellator release when he meets Team Frontline product Thoresen. The 29-year old French fighter has won all of his fights by submission during the winning streak and will be looking for his first four fight win streak since 2012. Thoresen has lost four fights in a row. Dec 18th – Unified MMA 25 (Edmonton, Alberta) Tim Hague (20-10) vs. Tony Lopez (36-19) UFC veteran Hague looks to get back on the winning track when he faces off with KOTC veteran Lopez. Hague had his four fight win streak snapped in his last fight, where he lost by first round knockout to Evgeny Erokhin at Plotforma S-70 6th this past July. Lopez is coming off a split decision loss to Jared Torgeson at Rumble on the Ridge 33 last month, which snapped his two fight win streak. Dec 19th – Pancrase 274 (Fukuoka, Japan) Will Chope (28-8) vs. Kenichiro Togashi (15-10-5) UFC veteran Chope competes for the 9th time this year when he faces 34-year old Togashi. More impressive then his nine fights this year is that Chope has amassed an impressive 9-1 record over his last 10-fights. Togashi meanwhile has won three fights in a row. Dec 20th – Absolute Championship Berkut 27: Grand Prix (Dushanbe, Tajikistan) Frodo Khasbulaev (22-5) vs. Eduard Vartanyan (11-2) Bellator veteran Khasbulaev looks to extend his winning streak to 11-straight when he meets 24-year old Vartanyan. During his current hot streak, Khasbulaev has only gone the distance twice. Vartanyan is coming off a loss to Ali Bagov at Absolute Championship Berkut 22 which had snapped his 11-fight win streak. Dec 26th– Road FC 27 (Shanghai, China) Siala “Mighty Mo” Siliga (7-5-0) vs. Mu Bae Choi (12-5-0) Mo looks to win back to back fights as he faces Choi, a fighter he already defeated by first round knockout back in October. The 45-year old was originally slated to fight Hyun Man Myung but is now facing Choi in a rematch. Speaking of Choi, he looks to avoid back to back losses for the first time since 2005. Dec 29th– RIZIN Fighting Federation (Saitama, Japan) Shinya Aoki (38-6-0) vs. Kazushi Sakuraba (26-16-2) ONE lightweight champion Aoki takes on 46-year old Sakuraba in a matchup that was setup primarily for the Japanese fans. The 32-year old champion has won eight fights in a row, and has only lost twice since 2010 (losing to Gilbet Melendez at Strikeforce: Nashville and Eddie Alvarez at Bellator 66). Sakuraba competes for the first time since 2011 and has lost four straight fights. James Thompson (20-15) vs. Tsuyoshi Kosaka (26-18-2) PRIDE/Bellator veteran Thompson looks to bounce back from his loss to Bobby Lashley earlier this month when he faces Japanese fighter Kosaka. Thompson was riding a five fight win streak before the loss at Bellator 145. Kosaka hasn’t competed since a March 2006 loss to Mark Hunt at PRIDE Total Elimination: Absolute.
