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 March. Apr. 1st – CES 34 (Mashantucket, Connecticut) Nah-shon Burrell def. Chris Curtis via Split Decision It was a very controversial result, but UFC/Bellator veteran Burrell earns back-to-back wins for the first time since 2012 but because he missed weight, he didn’t capture the CES welterweight title. Curtis meanwhile has his three-fight win streak snapped. Apr. 1st – Absolute Fighting Championship 25 (Coconut Creek, Florida) Steve Montgomery def. Avery McPhatter via Submission Montgomery snaps his two-fight losing streak, while McPhatter had his six-fight win streak snapped. Apr. 1st – Victory Fighting Championship (Omaha, Nebraska) Valdir Araujo def. Dakota Cochrane via TKO (Punches) at 4:11, RD. 2 Araujo earns back-to-back victories for the first time since 2013 while Cochrane has his five-fight winning streak snapped. Rob Emerson (17-11) vs. Alonzo Martinez (39-19-1) [CANCELLED] Bout cancelled per Tapology Apr. 2nd– Thunder Fight 6 (Sao Paulo, Brazil) Elias Silvério def. Gilberto Sousa via TKO (Punches) at 3:35, RD.1 Silverio earns his first victory since 2014 as he takes out Sousa in the first round. The UFC veteran was slated to fight Vitor Regis, but Regis withdrew due to injury. Apr. 8th – M-1 Challenge 65: Emeev vs. Falcão (St. Petersburg, Russia) Ramazan Emeev def. Maiquel Falcão via Submission at 2:50, RD. 1 Emeev has now won three straight fights while UFC/Bellator veteran Falcao has now lost two in a row. Jeremy May (13-8) vs. Evgeni Myakinin (13-7) [CANCELLED] Bout cancelled due to Visa issues with May. Apr. 8th – Legacy FC 53 (Atlanta, Georgia) Dhiego Lima def Antonio Trocoli via Unanimous Decision Lima snaps his two fight losing streak and earns his first victory since his UFC release. Trocoli has now lost two in a row after winning nine straight. Apr. 9th – Superior Challenge 13 (Norrköping, Sweden) David Bielkheden (21-12) vs. Daniel Acácio (30-18) Papy Abedi (9-3) vs. Bruno Carvalho (16-10) Card postponed until October 1st per Tapology. Apr. 9th – Fight Night Medicine Hat (Medicine Hat, Alberta) Ryan Machan def. Cody McKenzie via Submission, RD. 1 Machan earns his first win since November 2014 and has now won five fights in a row. McKenzie has now lost five fights in a row. Emanuel Newton def. Matt Baker via Submission (Choke) RD. 2 Newton snaps his three-fight skid and earns his first win outside Bellator since 2011. Baker has now lost two of his last three fights. Josh Hill def. Bendy Casimir via Unanimous Decision Hill is now riding a five-fight winning streak since losing a close decision to Marlon Moraes at WSOF 18 last year. Casimir has now lost three straight fights. Antonio McKee (29-6-2) vs. Marcelo Mafra (6-0) [CANCELLED] Bout cancelled per tapology. Apr. 15th – Xcessive Force FC 9: Conviction (Grande Prairie, Alberta) Tim Hague def. Kalib Starnes via TKO at 0:13, RD. 4 Hague snaps his three-fight losing streak while Starnes has now lost three of his last four fights. Matt MacGrath def. Jesse Ronson via Unanimous Decision MacGrath has now won eight straight fights and hasn’t lost since 2012. Ronson has now lost back-to-back fights for the first time since 2014. Mike Hill def. Spencer Jebb via Split Decision Hill has now won two of his last three fights and snapped Jebb’s two-fight winning streak. Apr. 16th – RFA 37: Viana vs Clark (Sioux Falls, South Dakota) David Michaud def. Chris Hugh via Submission (Choke) at 1:44, RD. 1 Michaud earns his first win since his UFC release, while Hugh has now lost three straight fights. Apr 16th – Road FC 30 (Beijing, China) Hong Man Choi def. Aorigele via TKO (Punches) at 1:36, RD. 1 Choi earns back-to-back victories for the first time in his career while Aorigele has lost three of his last four fights. Mighty Mo def. Hyun Man Myung via Submission (Neck Crank) at 1:12, RD. 3 Mo has now won three fights in a row and subsequently snapped Myung’s two-fight win streak. Apr. 16th – Chosen Few FC 8 (Madison, Wisconsin) James Heidlage def. Eric Schafer via TKO (Retirement) at 3:01, RD. 2 Heidlage earns his third straight victory while Schafer has his two-fight win streak snapped. Apr. 16th – GMC 8 (Castrop-Rauxel, Germany) Jessin Ayari def. Mickael Lebout via Unanimous Decision Ayari has now won six straight fights and hasn’t lost a fight since 2013. UFC vet Lebout has now lost back-to-back fights. Apr. 16th – Asperfa FC 34 (Ceara, Brazil) Nazareno Malegarie def. Iramar Frota via Submission (Choke) at 0:35, RD. 1 UFC/Bellator veteran Malegarie earns his ninth win his his last 10 bouts while Frota has lost three straight. Apr. 17th – RIZIN FF 1 (Aichi, Japan) Daron Cruickshank def. Shinji Saski via TKO at 4:36, RD. 1 Cruickshank earns his first win since 2014 while Saski has his four-fight unbeaten streak snapped. Apr. 22nd – Triumph FC 1: Inception (Edmonton, Alberta) Andrew McInnes def. Tom Gallicchio via TKO (Punches) at 4:48, RD. 4 McInnes earns his seventh win in a row, while Gallicchio has his three-fight win streak snapped. Apr. 22nd – Fight Time 30 (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) Vagner Rocha def. Gabriel Miranda via TKO, RD. 2 Former UFC lightweight Rocha has now won six of his last seven bouts while Miranda has lost back to back fights. Apr. 23rd – Mobstyles: Fight and Mosh (Urayasu, China) Yoshiro Maeda def. Kosuke Suzuki via Submission (choke) at 2:43, RD. 2 PRIDE/WEC veteran Maeda earns his fourth win in a row while Suzuki has only won once in his last five fights. Apr. 23rd – DEEP: Cage Impact (Tokyo, Japan) Masakazu Imanari def. Nam Phan via Submission (Leglock) at 0:35, RD. 1 Phan now drops to 3-3 since his UFC release in 2014. Imanari meanwhile has won five of his last six fights. Apr. 23rd– PRIDE Fighting Show: The Stars of World MMA (Nizhny Novgorod, Russia) Jeff Monson def. Maxim Kiselev Monson wins his second straight fight of 2016, while Kiselev drops his professional MMA debut. Apr. 23rd – Aspera FC 35 (Ji-Parana, Rondonia) Iliarde Santos def. Bruno Viana via Split Decision UFC veteran Santos has now won two of his last three bouts, while Viana loses for just the second time in his career. Apr. 23rd – WXC 63: Implosion (Southgate, Michigan) Johnny Bedford def. Taylor Moore via TKO (Punches) at 2:15, RD. 4 UFC veteran Bedford earns back to back wins for the first time since 2012. Late replacement Moore loses for the first time in his pro-career. Apr. 29th– Pinnacle Combat 23 (Dubuque, Iowa) Derrick Mehmen (19-7) vs. Rakim Cleveland (13-7-1) Bout cancelled per Tapology Apr. 30th– CFC 2 (South Richmond, California) James Terry def.. Buddy Wallace via Decision. Strikeforce/Bellator veteran Terry has now won three of his last four bouts. Wallace has now lost five of his last six fights. Ulysses Gomez (9-5) vs. Josh Paiva (7-1) Bout cancelled per tapology Apr. 30th– Art of War 17 (Beijing, China) Waylon Lowe (16-7) vs. Gadji Zaipulaev (22-8) Bout cancelled due to an injury to Zaipulev. Was there a notable MMA veteran competing this past month that I missed? Hit me up on Twitter @LynchOnSports and I’ll add them in.
