At the beginning of every month, 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 January. January 6th – WKG (Heilongjiang, China) Yan Cabral def. Shane Young via Submission (Choke) RD. 1 UFC vet Cabral earns his first win since his UFC release while Young has his five-fight win streak snapped. January 13th – TKO 37: Rivals (Montreal, Quebec) Maiquel Falcao (36-9) vs. Todd Stoute (8-3) Bout cancelled due to visa issues with Falcao. January 13th – Absolute Championship Berkut 51 (Los Angeles, California) Thiago Silva def. Jared Torgeson via Unanimous Decision Silva earns his first three-fight win streak since 2008 while Torgeson has his three-fight win streak snapped. Paul Buentello (35-17) vs. Tim Hague (21-13) Matchup never materialised per Tapology. Shamil Gamzatov def. Rodney Wallace via Split Decision Gamzatov remains undefeated, pushing his record to 10-0, while UFC vet Wallace has now dropped three of his last four fights. Luis Palomino def. Musa Khamanaev via TKO (Punches) at 3:45, RD. 2 Palomino snaps his two-fight losing streak while Khamanaev has his winning streak snapped. Christos Giagos def. Alexandre Pimentel via Unanimous Decision UFC vet Giagos improves to 3-1 since his UFC release while Pimentel suffers his first loss since 2013. Leandro Silva def. Pat Healy via KO (Punches) at 0:38, RD. 1 Silva gets back on the winning track after losing two in a row. Healy loses by knockout for the second straight fight and drops to 1-3 in his last four fights. Mike Kyle def. Dan Charles via TKO (Punches) at 2:15, RD. 1 36-year old UFC/Strikeforce vet Kyle snaps a two-fight skid and earns his first knockout victory since 2013. Charles has only won once in his last five fights. January 13th – LFA 1: Peterson vs. Higo (Dallas, Texas) Damon Jackson def. Charles Cheeks III via Submission (Choke) at 1:24, RD. 2. Former UFC featherweight Jackson has now earned back-to-back wins since his UFC release. Cheeks III has his two-fight win streak snapped. January 14th – Fight Exclusive Night 15: Final Strike (Lubin, Poland) Matt Horwich (29-25-1) vs. Filip Tomczak (4-0) Bout cancelled per Tapology due to an injury to Horwich. January 20th – LFA 2: Richman vs Stojadinovic (Prior Lake, Minnesota) Lazar Stojadinovic def. Mike Richman via Unanimous Decision. Former Bellator title challenger Richman competes for the first time since May 2015 as he battles American Top Team product Stojadinovic. Richman hasn’t competed in the cage for quite some time due to a PED suspension. The 31-year-old has won two of his last three fights. Stojadinovic improves his winning streak to eight straight while Richman drops to 2-2 in his last four fights. Chico Camus def. Darrick Minner via Unanimous decision Camus earns his third straight win since his UFC release. Minner drops to 2-2 in his last four fights. January 21st- Titan FC 43 (Coral Gables, Florida) Jose ‘Shorty’ Torres def. Pedro Nobre via TKO (Punches) at 1:26, RD. 1 Torres improves his professional record to a perfect 4-0 while Nobre has lost two of his last three fights. January 27th – CES 41 (Lincoin, Rhode Island) Matt Bessette def. Kevin Croom via TKO at 0:33, RD. 3 – defends CES featherweight title Bellator veteran Bessette pushes his winning streak to six straight, with all of those wins coming by way of stoppage. Croom, meanwhile, falls to 2-4 in his last six fights. January 28th – Big Guns 22 (Mansfield, Ohio) Brian Rogers def. Lewis Rumsey via TKO (Punch) at 1:00, RD. 1 Bellator veteran Rogers earns his first knockout win since 2014 and has now won two of his last three fights. Rumsey has his two-fight win streak snapped and drops to 13-15 overall. Is there a notable MMA veteran competing this month that I missed? Or is there a matchup that has been changed? Hit me up on Twitter @LynchOnSports, and I’ll add it in / fix it up. Thanks.
MMAOddsBreaker’s Submission of the Month for January 2017
