Carey Vanier won by 3rd round submission Saturday night at the Target Center against the undefeated and tough prospect, Jordon Larson.  Carey controlled the fight with his wrestling and sunk in a 3rd round guillotine choke to get the win.  Congratulations Carey!

CFX 33 is taking place this Saturday night with headlining featuring a co-main event of Japan vs. Minnesota battles.  After arriving from Japan earlier today, Yoshihiro Koyama and UFC Veteran Yoshiyuki Yoshida visited The Cellar to get a training session in and to get rid of the jet lag from the long flight.  Tickets for this exciting event are still on sale at The Cellar and don’t forget to cheer on our very own, Carey Vanier!

Minnesota MMA standout, and 4x National Wrestling Champion, Marcus LeVesseur was recently signed to the UFC to face TUF Vetearn Cody McKenzie. The pair will meet at UFC on Fuel TV 3 in Fairfax, Virginia on May 15. Marcus has been working his striking with The Cellar’s Chris Cichon and he’s ready to make a name for himself in his UFC debut.

For more information, read this recent article by MMA Junkie.

MMA Xtreme 33 presented by Taco Bell is coming to the Target Center on April 28th and The Cellar’s Carey Vanier will be facing undefeated prospect, Jordon Larson. Tickets are on sale now at The Cellar or TicketMaster.com and start at just $32. This is one of the most stacked cards in Minnesota MMA history.

Carey started training at The Cellar earlier this year and is also helping to build our ever growing MMA team. This will be his first fight in over a year, but he’s exciting to display his new and refined skills.

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On Sunday afternoon The Cellar hosted BJJ Black Belt, Tom Schmitz for a special seminar. Tom taught techniques, answered questions, evaluated students and held mini in-house tournaments. At the completion of the event Tom promoted several of our students in rank with stripes for their hard work and improved technique. Thanks to everyone for coming out on a Sunday!

Congratulations to the following students on earning stripes:

• Rob Klink – 4th Stripe Blue Belt
• Aidan Donovan – 2nd Stripe Blue Belt
• John Wang – 4th Stripes White Belt
• Tho Kieu – 3rd Stripe White Belt
• Chris Martin – 2nd Stripe White Belt
• Doug Novak – 2nd Stripe White Belt
• Bill Feildler – 2nd Stripe White Belt
• (our apologies if we missed anyone)

Adam McDermid and Armando Gonzalez competed in USA Boxing fights Friday Night at the Clyde Iron Restaurant & Bar in Duluth, MN.  Adam won a judges decision and showed great elusive movement in his bout, Armando lost a razor thin decision, but put on a great performance after suffering a nasty accidental head butt in the opening round.

Brandon Buchholz defeated Craig Early Friday night by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28) in a back-and-forth battle at the Hyatt Hotel in Minneapolis.  This was the third meeting of these two fighters as Buchholz won their first bout by submission (May 2011) and Early won the rematch by submission (Nov 2011).

Congratulations Brandon!

Congratulations to The Cellar’s Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and No-Gi Jiu Jitsu students who competed at the 2011 Fall Submission Hunt.  The tournament was held at the Champlin Park High School in Champlin, MN and is the largest submission grappling and BJJ tournament in Minnesota.

We will post full results soon, but as for quick results, congratulations to:

Brandon Buchholz – 2nd Place in his Gi division and 2nd Place in his No-Gi division
John Wang – 2nd Place in his Gi division and 2nd Place in his No-Gi division
Chris Martin – Only competed in Gi and took 2nd Place

The Cellar’s Chris Cichon and Lisa Van Ahn were selected to compete with Team USA at the 2011 WAKO World Championships in Dublin, Ireland along with The Cellar’s Justin Whiley who was selected as an Assistant Coach. Chris Cichon fought at -71kg (156.5lbs) and Lisa Van Ahn fought at -56kg (123.5lbs). The WAKO World Championships is held every 2 years and is the biggest event in the world for the sport of Full Contact Kickboxing. Over 50 countries participate and each country is allowed to send one fighter per weight class.

Below is a recap of the event: Read the rest of this entry »

Congratulations to The Cellar’s Brandon Buchholz on winning his MMA fight at the Minneapolis Hyatt on Saturday night. Brandon controlled the ground game in the first and second rounds before locking in a second round triangle choke for the victory. Brandon steps back in the cage on Jan 6th for a rubber match with Craig Early.