Rakim Cleveland def. Houston Alexander via TKO (Punches) at 3:04, RD. 3
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 December.
Babilon MMA 2 – Dec. 2nd (Legionowo, Poland)
Paweł Pawlak def. Adam Niedźwiedź via TKO (Elbows) at 4:37, RD. 2
Former UFC welterweight Pawlak makes it two-straight wins for the first time since 2013 while Niedzwiedz has his two-fight win streak snapped.
TKO 41- Dec, 8 (Montreal, Quebec)
Jesse Ronson def. Derek Gauthier via Submission (Strikes) at 1:10, RD. 1
UFC veteran Ronson picked up his fourth win in a row while Gauthier is 1- 4in his last five fights.
LFA 28 – Dec. 8 (Dallas Texas)
Damon Jackson def. Luis Luna via Submission (Choke) at 4:58, RD. 1
UFC veteran Jackson earns his fourth win in his last five fights after taking out late replacement Luna.
Primus FC – Dec. 9 (Woodward Oklahoma)
Alexander is now 1-6 in his last seven fights with five of those losses coming by knockout. Meanwhile Cleveland remains unbeaten in his last three fights.
Rob Emerson (19-12) vs. David Sachs (10-4)
Bout cancelled per Tapology
TUF 11’s Yager picks up his first three-fight win streak since 2011 while Jackson falls to 10-8 overall in his career.
Fury FC 20 – Dec. 9 (San Antonio, Texas)
Washington Luiz def. Pete Spratt via TKO (Punch) at 1:40, RD. 2
Spratt suffers his third loss in a row while Luiz picks up his first win since September 2016.
Fight Nights Global 81 – Dec. 15 (Omsk, Russia)
Levan Makashvili (14-2-1) vs. Alexander Matmuratov (8-3)
Bout cancelled per Tapology
BAMMA 33 – Dec . 15 (Newcastle, England)
Ryan Scope def. Mickael Lebout via Split Decision
Scope bounces back from the first loss of his career while Lebout has his three-fight unbeaten streak snapped.
Unified 33 – Dec. 15 (Edmonton, Alberta)
Shane Campbell (13-6) vs. Stephan Beaumont (9-2)
Title matchup cancelled due to the Combat Sports ban in Edmonton, Alberta.
LFA 29 – Dec. 15 (Prior Lake, Minnesota)
Ricky Simon def. Chico Camus via Unanimous Decision
Simon is currently riding a four-fight win streak and subsequently captured the LFA bantamweight title. Camus meanwhile has his four fight win streak snapped.
Jeff Peterson def. Mike Richman via Unanimous Decision
Peterson earned a controversial decision and picked up his sixth win in a row. Richman has now lost three-straight fights.
Fights Nights Global 82 – Dec. 16 (Gtskz, Russia)
Vitaly Minakov def. Tony Johnson Jr. via TKO (Punches) at 0:38, RD. 2
Former Bellator heavyweight champion Minakov earns his 21st win in a row and remains unbeaten. Johnson Jr. has now lost two of his last three fights.
KOP 59 – Dec. 1 (Grand Rapids, Michigan)
Erick Lozano def. Terry Martin via TKO (Knee) at 2:11, RD. 1
Lozano earns his fourth win in a row while UFC veteran Martin has been knocked out in three of his last five fights.
CFFC 69 – Dec. 16 (Atlantic City, New Jersey)
Dan Spohn (16-5) vs. Anton Berzin (5-2)
Bout cancelled per Tapology
Road FC 45 – Dec. 23 (Seoul, South Korea)
Seo Hee Ham def Jinh Yu via TKO (Punches) at 4:40, RD. 1
Former UFC strawweight Ham earns her second-straight win while Yu has now lost two of her last three fights.
ACB 77 Moscow – Dec. 23 (Moscow, Russia)
Cory Hendricks def. Konstantin Erokhin via TKO (Strikes) at 0:30, RD. 1
Hendricks earns back-to-back wins by knockout while Erokhin has now lost three-fights in a row.
RIZIN Fighting World Grand Prix 2017: 2nd Round – Dec. 29 (Saitama, Japan)
Manel Kape def. Ian McCall via TKO/KO in RD. 1
Kape wins his sixth fight in a row while McCall has lost back-to-back fights.
Je Hoon Moon def. Anthony Birchak via Split Decision
Moon has now won two of his last three fights while Birchak has lost three straight.
Kyoji Horiguchi def. Gabriel Oliveira via KO in RD. 1
Kyoji Horiguchi def. Manel Kape via Submission in RD. 3
Kyoji Horiguchi def. Shintaro Ishiwatari via TKO in RD.2
Former UFC title challenger Horiguchi moved up to the bantamweight division and ended up winning the tournament earning three-straight wins. The 27-year-old has now earned eight wins in a row.
RIZIN Fighting World Grand Prix 2017: Final Round – Dec. 31 (Saitama, Japan)
Mirko Filipović def. Tsuyoshi Kosaka via TKO at RD. 1
UFC/PRIDE veteran Filipovic has now won seven-fights in a row by stoppage. Kosaka has now lost three of his last four fights.
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 or fix it up. Thanks.
