For North American MMA, the Christmas weekend proved predictably quiet, but big-show veterans kept busy in international shows, including former UFC bantamweight Vaughan Lee, who returned to the regionals after a four-year stint in the Octagon.
Lee (14-12, 3-5 UFC) would come up short in his 2011 UFC debut, dropping a split-decision to Chris Cariaso. He'd then triumph over some long odds to submit Norifumi Yamamoto. The Englishman would, however, be unable to win consecutive bouts during his time with the promotion, and back-to-back losses to Iura Alcantara and Patrick Holohan left him with a pink slip.
Lee returned to action at WFCA - Grozny Battle 13 against Rakhman Dudaev (16-3-0). Despite an edge in experience and strength of competition, the UFC vet came short, losing a unanimous decision. This latest loss puts him in a three-fight slump, the longest of his career since he began his career at 0-3.
Also on the card, former WSOF champion and recent TUF alum Steve Carl (22-4, 3-1 WSOF, 2-2 Bellator) returned to action against Beslan Ushukov (10-2-0), who entered the fight with a five-fight win streak at his back. Carl would overcome his opponent's momentum in the third, submitting him with an arm-triangle choke. The win marks a successful rebound from his submission loss to Rousimar Palhares.
And earlier that night, Xavier Foupa-Pokam (32-21, 0-2 UFC) handed Salamu Abdurahmanov (6-1-0) the first loss of his career, putting him away with strikes in the third to improve to 2-1 for 2015.
And at Road FC 27 in Shanghai, China, "The Techno Goliath" Hong Man Choi (3-4, 1-1 Dream, 1-1 K-1) captured his first victory in six years, earning a technical knockout of novice Luo Quanchao (0-1-0) in the opening round. Choi, who last had his hand raised following his TKO of Jose Canseco, is 1-1 since returning to competition.
In the night's co-main event, TUF: China winner Zhang Lipeng (13-9-1, 2-2 UFC) made short work of yet another opponent, submitting Yung Gi Hong (3-2-0) with a rear-naked choke in the first. Zhang is 4-0 since parting ways with the UFC, with all of his victories coming by first-round submission.
Also on the card, Ikuhisa Minowa (60-40-8, 9-8 PRIDE, 6-4 Dream) suffered yet another knockout loss, this one at the hands of Zhao Zilong (10-3-0). The loss dropped "Minowaman" to 1-3 for 2015 and 1-5 in his last six, making for one of the worst stretches of his lengthy career.
And Mu Bae Choi (12-6, 2-1 PRIDE, 1-2 Sengoku) looked to even the score against Siala-Mou Siliga (8-5, 3-1 Bellator, 0-1 Dream), who knocked him out last October. The second meeting wouldn't go much better for Choi, w ho was again finished with strikes in the first.
Other results:
At Mix Fight Combat 9 in Khimski, Russia, Jeff Monson (58-24-1, 4-3 UFC, 1-0 PRIDE) saw his recent win streak fizzle out at three as he lasted only a minute against Donald Njatah Nya (13-6-0). Monson was knocked out in 50 seconds. Monson closes out the year at 5-4, with three of those losses coming by knockout.
Earlier that evening, Alexei Kudin (21-9, 0-1 Bellator) put away Evgeni Boldyrev (9-8-1) with strikes in Round 1.