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Vanier Signs with
Bellator Fighting Championship
 (PRESS
RELEASE) -- The lightweight division of Bellator Fighting
Championships’ upcoming Season 2 tournament continued to take shape
today with the addition of Carey Vanier, a former All-American
wrestler and student of prominent MMA coach Greg Jackson.
Vanier boasts a solid overall professional record of 7-2 (all but
one of his wins have come via TKO or submission), but his career has
taken on an entirely new trajectory since he began training at
Jackson’s Submission Fighting school in Albuquerque, N.M.
“That’s when it all started to come together for me,” Vanier said.
“To work with a world-renowned trainer like Greg and to train
alongside guys like Keith Jardine and Donald Cerone, it just
elevates your game. Over the past few months, I’ve started to
realize that I’m getting pretty close to their level, which gives me
a lot of confidence going into the Bellator tournament. Now I have
my sights set on shocking the world and taking home that belt.”
Vanier is the third confirmed competitor in Bellator’s Season 2 155
lbs. tournament, along with 5-0 Mike Ricci (a training partner to
UFC champion Georges Saint-Pierre) and 13-5 former Olympic judoka
Ferrid Kheder. Bellator will also conduct tournaments at 145, 170
and 185 lbs. with the winners of this season’s tournaments being
declared No. 1 contenders to Bellator’s current roster of champions.
Each of Bellator’s 24 events during Seasons 2 and 3 will be
televised on FOX Sports Net, NBC and Telemundo. Season 2 begins
April 8th.
“We’ve been very impressed by Carey’s skills and the work-ethic that
he brings to his training,” said Bellator founder and CEO Bjorn
Rebney. “He’s come up alongside some of the best fighters in the
sport and has the drive and the hunger to shock some people in our
155 tournament.”
Vanier, now 28, was born and raised in Minnesota, where he was a
high school wrestling star. During his senior year, he finished
sixth at the state finals before moving on to wrestle at Ridgewater
College where he was eventually named an All-American.
After graduating, though, he made the decision to put his fighting
dreams on the back burner in order to support his young son, Carey
Jr. He took a job at the local Best Buy and worked his way up the
ranks until he was named store manager.
Vanier never lost his passion for the fight game, though, and
continued to train part time until a Best Buy supervisor asked him
if he was truly happy with his full-time job.
“I told her that I liked my job but that I didn’t really love it … I
love being a competitor,” he said.
Accordingly, he began to scale back his hours at the store and,
eventually, in late 2007, handed in his resignation.
“I sold my house, I moved back in with my mom and just committed
full-time to fighting,” he said. “I said to myself, if I’m going to
do this, I’m going to go all in.”
He began training in boxing, Muay-Thai and Jiu-Jitsu and, this past
November, was invited to train with Donald “Cowboy” Cerone at
Jackson’s gym in Albuquerque, where he has stayed ever since.
“I’ve come along way,” he said. “I’ve reached the point where I’m
ready to show the world what I can do.”
For more information, visit Bellator.com, follow Bellator on Twitter
@BellatorMMA or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/Bellator.
About Bellator Fighting Championships
Bellator Fighting Championships is a Mixed Martial Arts promotional
company with offices in Los Angeles and Chicago. Bellator’s
founder/CEO, Bjorn Rebney, is an experienced fighting sports and
entertainment professional with a deep commitment to the purity and
integrity of the sport of MMA and its athletes. Bellator Fighting
Championships’ executive team is comprised of top industry
professionals in the areas of live event production, television
production, fighter relations, venue procurement, sponsorship
creation/development, international licensing, marketing,
advertising, publicity and commission relations.
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