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 June. June 3rd – Absolute Championship Berkut 40: Battleground (Krasnodar, Russia) Aslambek Saidov def. Jesse Taylor via Submission (Choke) at 3:29, RD. 1 Saidov earns his fourth straight win, while Taylor has now lost three of his last five fights. June 3rd – Shamrock FC: Explosion (St Louis, Missouri) Kyle Kurtz def. Adam Cella via Submission (Armbar) at 1:07, RD. 1 Kurtz gets back on the winning track and notches his third victory in his last five fights. Cella has now lost four-straight fights. June 3rd – Final Fight Championship 24: Parisyan vs. Ardas ( Daytona Beach, Florida) Karo Parisyan (24-11) vs. Arda Ardas (6-2) Bout cancelled per Tapology Jeremy Kimball def. Matt Van Buren via KO (Punch) at 0:14, RD. 1 Kimball has now won three in a row, while Van Buren has now lost three of his last four fights. Danillo Villefort def. Thiago Rela via KO at 1:04, RD. 3 Villefort emerges victorious after a three year layoff. Rela was a late replacement for Pavel Doroftei who had to bow out due to injury. The Brazilian has now lost back-to-back fights. June 3rd – RFA 38: Moises vs. Chavez (Costa Mesa, California) Christos Giagos def. Karen Darabedyan via TKO (Punches) at 1:42, RD. 1 Giagos snaps a two-fight losing streak and earns his first knockout victory since 2014. With the loss, Darabedyan has his three-fight win streak snapped. June 4th – GOTC MMA 21 (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) Adam Hunter def. Chris Dempsey via TKO at 0:40, RD. 1 Hunter improves his winning streak to seven-straight, while Dempsey has now lost three in a row. Dan Spohn def. Rob Morrow via TKO at 1:04, RD. 2 Spohn wins his fifth bout in his last six fights. Morrow (who was a late replacement for Jamelle Jones) has now lost three of his last four fights. June 4th – Scandinavian Fight Nights 1 (Solna, Sweden) David Bielkheden def. Adrian Grec via TKO in RD. 1 UFC vet Bielkheden earns his fifth win in a row, while Grec has his two-fight win streak snapped. June 4th – KOTC: Wipeout (Lincoln City, Oregon) Fabiano Scherner def. DJ Linderman via TKO at 2:55, RD. 1 Former UFC heavyweight Scherner came out victorious in his first fight since 2012. With the loss, Linderman has suffered back to back defeats. June 4th – Cage Warriors 76 (Newport, Wales, UK) Andreas Stahl def. Lewis Long via TKO (Punches) at 0:31, RD. 3 Stahl comes out on top in his first fight since his UFC release. Long meanwhile has his five-fight win streak snapped. June 10th – CES 36 (Lincoln, Rhode Island) Matt Bessette def. Ran Weathers via Submission (Choke) at 4:50, RD. 1 Bellator veteran Bessette earns his fourth straight win. Weathers (who took this fight on short notice) loses for the eighth time in a row. June 10th – Final Fight Championship 25: Staring vs. Stosic (Springfield, Massachusetts) David Mitchell def. Dervin Lopez via Submission (Choke) at 1:09, RD. 2 UFC veteran Mitchell snaps a two-fight skid as he takes out late replacement Lopez. Speaking of Lopez, he has now lost three of his last four fights. Leonardo Mafra def. Anthony Njokuani via Unanimous Decision Mafra earns his first victory since his UFC release. Njokuani has now lost five-straight fights. June 10th – BAMMA Badbeat 20 (Commerce, California) Chris Culley def. Chris Saunders via Split Decision Saunders has his four-fight win streak snapped while Culley earns back-to-back wins for the first time since 2013. June 12th- Pancrase 278 (Tokyo, Japan) Hatsu Hioki def. Yojiro Uchimura via Unanimous Decision UFC vet Hioki has now won back-to-back fights while Uchimura has his two-fight win streak snapped. Nazareno Malegarie def. Hiroyuki Takaya via Unanimous Decision UFC/Bellator veteran Malegaire has now won two-straight fights. Takaya has his five-fight unbeaten streak snapped. June 16th- M-1 Challenge 68 (St. Petersburg, Russia) Alexander Shlemenko def. Vyacheslav Vasilevsky via Submission (Choke) at 2:09, RD. 3 Former Bellator middleweight champion Shlemenko pushes his unbeaten streak to four straight. Vasilevsky is now 2-3 in his last five fights. Alexander Volkov def. Attila Vegh via TKO (Punches) at 2:38, RD. 1 Volkov has now won back-to-back fights while Vegh has now lost three in a row. June 17th- Fight Nights Global 50 (St. Petersburg, Russia) Fedor Emelianenko def. Fábio Maldonado via Majority Decision Emelianenko earns a controversial decision and pushes his winning streak to five-straight. Maldonado suffers his third straight loss. June 17th- EFC Worldside 50 (Sun City, South Africa) Ruan Potts def. Vandam Mbuyi via Submission (Armlock) at 4:06, Rd. 1 Former UFC heavyweight Potts snaps his five-fight win streak and earns his first win since 2013. While Mbuyi loses for the fourth straight time. June 18th- Australian FC 16 (Melbourne, Australia) Ben Wall (8-4-1) vs. Rob Hill (13-9-1) Bout cancelled per Tapology June 24th- Hex Fight Series 6 (Melbourne, Australia) Steven Kennedy def. Brian Ebersole via Unanimous Decision Kennedy snaps his two-fight losing streak, while Ebersole retires again and has now lost back-to-back fights. June 24th- Legacy FC 56: Vazquez vs. Peterson (Dallas, Texas) Levi Mowles def. Edwin Figueroa via Split Decision Figueroa has now lost four-straight fights, while Mowles improves to 3-0. June 24th- Victory FC 51 (Urbandale, Iowa) Mike “Biggie” Rhodes def. Rakim Cleveland via Submission, at 2:42, RD. 2 “Biggie” now improves to 4-0 since his UFC release in 2014, while Cleveland has his four-fight win streak snapped June 25th- M4TC 21: Supremacy (Tyne and Wear, England) John Maguire def. Colin Fletcher via Submission Maguire meanwhile has now gone 5-2 since his UFC release and earns his fourth straight victory. Fletcher drops to 4-4 since his UFC release. June 25th- MMA War 1 Leonardo “Chimmy” Morales def. Marcus Brimage via Unanimous Decision TUF Latin America’s Morales earns his seconds straight victory while Brimage has now lost three straight fights. Is there a notable MMA veteran competing this month that I missed? Hit me up on Twitter @LynchOnSports and I’ll add them in.
