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 December. Dec 4th – M-1 Challenge 63: Puetz vs. Nemkov 2 (St. Petersburg, Russia) Ramazan Emeev def. Luigi Fioravanti via TKO (Corner Stoppage) at 5:00, RD. 4 28-year old Emmev improves to 10-1 in his last 11 fights while UFC veteran Fioravanti has now gone 2-2 in his last four bouts. Dec 4th – CFFC 53 (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) Louis Gaudinot (7-4) vs. Sidemar Honorio (11-5) [CANCELLED] Bout cancelled per Tapology Dan Spohn def. Azunna Anyanwu via TKO (Punches) at 3:24, RD. 2 TUF 19 competitor Spohn earns his fourth straight win while Anayanwu falls to 2-2 in his last four fights. Dec 5th – XFC International 13 (Sao Paulo, Brazil) Júnior Assunção def. JM. dos Santos Jr. via TKO at 3:51, RD. 2 UFC veteran Assuncao earns his first win of this year and subsequently snapped dos Santos Jr’s two fight winning streak. Rafael Silva def. Marcos Vinicius via Submission (Armbar) at 1:25, RD. 2 Former Bellator title challenger Silva earns his second win in a row since his his release from the Viacom owned promotion. After winning three straight fights, Vinicius has now lost two in a row. Dec 5th – XKO 28 (Dallas, Texas) Mark De La Rosa def. Joseph Sandoval via Submission (Choke) at 1:25, RD. 1 UFC veteran Sandoval has now lost two straight fights and has now gone 1-6 in his last seven fights. De La Rosa remains undefeated at 4-0. Dec 11 – Xcessive Force FC 8: Festival of Fists (Grande Prairie, Alberta) Jesse Ronson (15-6) vs. Matt MacGrath (17-8) [CANCELLED] Bout cancelled due to an injury to Ronson. Dec 11th – ONE Championship: Spirit of Champions (Manila, Philippines) Brandon Vera def. Paul Cheng via TKO (Kick) at 0:26, RD. 1 After Chi Lewis Parry apparently failed to submit his medicals (and board a plane to the Philippines), Vera ended up making short work of replacement fighter Paul Cheng. Vera has now won two straight fights since his UFC release, while Cheng announced his retirement from the sport at 37-years of age. Dec 11th – Fight Nights: Battle 20 (Moscow, Russia) Vitaly Minakov def. Joshua Copeland via Submission (Shoulder) at 2:50, RD. 2 Bellator heavyweight champion Minakov kept his unblemished record in tact by taking out UFC veteran Copeland. It’s his third straight win outside of Bellator and subsequently his third straight stoppage victory. Copeland meanwhile has his two fight win streak snapped. Dec 11th – RFA 33: Townsend vs. Chavez (Costa Mesa, California) Ernest Chavez def. Adam Townsend via Split Decision Chavez has now won two straight fights since his UFC release. Townsend had his eight fight win streak snapped with the loss. Dec 12th – Venator FC 2 (Rimini, Italy) Luke Barnatt def. Mattia Schiavolin via Submission (Choke) in RD. 4 TUF 17 competitor Barnatt snapped his three fight losing streak and it’s his first win since his UFC release. Schiavolin meanwhile suffered the first loss of his career. Karl Amoussou def. Hakon Foss via Submission (Heel Hook) RD 1. Former Bellator title challenger Amoussou earned his fourth win in a row since his Bellator release. Foss was a late replacement for Simeon Thoresen (who had to withdraw from the fight due to the flu) and with the loss he had his two fight win streak snapped. Dec 18th – Unified MMA 25 (Edmonton, Alberta) Tony Lopez def. Tim Hague via TKO (Strikes) at 3:24, RD. 3 Lopez has now won two in a row, while UFC veteran Hague has now lost two straight fights since his four-fight winning streak. Dec 19th – Pancrase 274 (Fukuoka, Japan) Kenichiro Togashi def. Will Chope via Split Decision Togashi has now won four straight fights while Chope loses for the second time in his last six fights. Dec 20th – Absolute Championship Berkut 27: Grand Prix (Dushanbe, Tajikistan) Eduard Vartanyan def. Frodo Khasbulaev via Unanimous Decision Bellator veteran Khasbulaev had his 11-fight winning streak snapped. Vartanyan meanwhile has now won four of his last five fights. Dec 26th– Road FC 27 (Shanghai, China) Siala “Mighty Mo” Siliga def. Mu Bae Choi via TKO (Punches) at 3:43, RD. 1 Mo has now won two straight fights while Choi has now lost back to back fights. Dec 29th– RIZIN Fighting Federation (Saitama, Japan) Shinya Aoki def. Kazushi Sakuraba via TKO (Retirement) 32-year old Aoki has now won nine fights in a row and has only lost twice since 2010 (losing to Gilbert Melendez at Strikeforce: Nashville and Eddie Alvarez at Bellator 66). Sakuraba has now lost five straight fights. Tsuyoshi Kosaka def. James Thompson via TKO at 1:58, RD. 1 Kosaka earns his first win since February 2006, while Thompson has now lost back to back fights.
