When fighters are given their release from a major North American MMA promotion like the UFC, Bellator or WSOF – unless they’re a major star – they often fall into obscurity on the regional/overseas circuit unless they rack up a few wins and end up signing with one of the aforementioned promotions. In this regular feature for MMAOddsBreaker, I take a look at some regional/overseas matchups for the month of September and rather than listing off the top fights outside these major organizations, I highlight some familiar names that you might recognize on upcoming events. September 9th – Fight Night At The Island (Welch, Minnesota) Ben Saunders (19-7-2) vs. Jacob Volkmann (19-6) Saunders competes for the first time since leaving the UFC as he takes on fellow UFC vet Volkmann. Saunders is coming off a TKO loss to Patrick Cote at UFC Fight Night 81, which was his first loss in the UFC since he rejoined the promotion in 2014. Volkmann heads into this matchup winning three of his last four fights. September 9th – Titan FC 41: Damm vs. Faria 3 (Coral Gables, Florida) Steve Carl (22-5) vs. Jason Jackson (5-2) A pair of Season 21 Ultimate Fighter veterans square off as Carl takes on Blackzilians product Jackson. Carl heads into this matchup off a TKO loss to Belal Muhammad at Titan FC 38 which was his first loss by knockout since 2006. Jackson heads into this matchup off a TKO victory over Victor Moreno at Victory FC 48 back in February. Alexandre “Popo” Bezerra (19-4) vs. Andre Harrison (13-0) Two-time Bellator tournament semi-finalist Bezerra makes his Titan FC debut against featherweight champion Harrison. The 28-year old Brazilian has gone 4-1 since his Bellator release in 2013. Harrison has remained undefeated in his career and has notched victories over UFC veterans Kurt Holobaugh and Steven Siler. September 10th – Fight Night 2 (Florence, South Carolina) Steve Montgomery (9-5) vs. Roger Carroll (16-14) TUF 21 competitor Montgomery looks to get back on the winning track as he battles “The Leprechaun” Roger Carroll. The ATT product has lost three of his last four fights and will look to find the form that saw him win five-straight fights from 2013-2014. Carroll heads into this matchup off three straight losses. September 10th – BAMMA 26: Craig vs. Fields (Dublin, Ireland) Paul Redmond (10-5) vs. Chris Stringer (11-11-1) Two-time UFC vet Redmond looks for his first win since 2014 when he takes on Stringer. Redmond suffered back-to-back losses in the octagon against Mirsad Bektic and Robert Whiteford before his UFC release. Stringer looks for his first win since 2011. September 11th – Pancrase 280 (Tokyo Japan) Tateki Matsuda (12-7) vs. Tatsuya So (14-15-4) Former UFC flyweight Matsuda competes in Japan for the first time since 2012 when he takes on So. Since his UFC release, Matsuda has won back-to-back fights against Johny Campbell and Joe Pearson. So meanwhile snapped a seven-fight losing streak in his last bout, defeating Shingo Yakul by Majority Decision back in March. September 11th – Top FC 12: Min Gu vs. Seung Woo (Seoul, South Korea) Takenori Sato (19-11-7) vs. Sung Chan Hong (5-1) DEEP/UFC veteran Satao looks for his first two-fight win streak since 2013 when he takes on Korean Top Team product Hong. Since losing back-to-back fights in the UFC against Erick Silva and Hyun Gyu Lim, Sato has gone 2-1. Hong is coming into this matchup on a three-fight win streak. September 23rd – Brave CF 1 (Isa Town, Bahrain) Masio Fullen (10-6) vs. Abdul Muneer (6-1) Three-time UFC veteran Fullen looks to snap a two-fight losing streak when he takes on Super Fight League veteran Munner. Fullen went 1-2 in the UFC earning a win over Alexander Torres and losing bouts to Makwan Amirkhani and Alex Caceres. Muneer competes for just the second time since 2015 and has never gone the distance in his career. September 23rd – Final Fight Championship 26: Austria (Linz, Austria) Norman Parke (21-5-1) vs. Valdimir Sikic (11-0-1) Parke competes for the first time since his UFC release earlier this year as he takes on TUF 22 veteran Sikic. After going 1-3 in his last four bouts Parke was giving his walking papers from the Las Vegas based promotion. He most recently suffered a unanimous decision loss to Rustam Khabilov at UFC Fight Night 84 back in February. Sikic lost to Abner Lloveras in the opening round of Season 22 of The Ultimate Fighter. He heads into this matchup undefeated, with only one of his career bouts going the distance. September 23rd – CES 38 (Mashantucket, Connecticut) Levan Makashvili (11-2-1) vs. Sean Soriano (9-4) A pair of UFC veterans square off in the main event of this card as Makashvili battles Blackzilians product Soranio. Makashvili went 2-1 -1 in the UFC and was surprisingly released earlier this year. He is coming off a unanimous decision victory over Ryan Sanders at CES 36 back in June. Soriano has gone 1-1 since his UFC release late last year earning a knockout victory over Josh Quayhagen and suffering his own knockout setback against Thomas Webb at Legacy FC 52 back in March. September 29th – RIZIN Fighting Federation (Saitama, Japan) Daron Cruickshank (17-8) vs. Andy Souwer (1-0) UFC veteran Cruickshank looks to make it two straight wins when he takes on 2-time K-1 MAX champion Souwer. After losing three fights in a row in the UFC, the MTT product Cruickshank rebounded with a first round knockout victory over Shinji Sasaki at RIZIN FF 1. Souwer made a successful pro-MMA debut earning a first round TKO victory over Yuichiro Nagashima at the same event. Is there a notable MMA veteran competing this month that I missed? Hit me up on Twitter @LynchOnSports and I’ll add them in.
