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.

From http://www.mnmmanews.com

Tickets for CFX 33: Minnesota vs. Japan, which is April 28, are on sale now through ticketmaster.com and at the Target Center box office. Tickets also are available through participating fighters or by entering their “fighter code” at ticketmaster.com. Tickets start at $30 and go up from there.

The most significant addition to the card today was Minnesota native Carey Vanier, who is fighting outside of Bellator for the first time since 2009.

Vanier (8-3) was part of Bellator’s first 155-pound tournament. The former collegiate wrestling All-American defeated Joe Duarte in the opening round of the tournament at Bellator 13, before falling to Toby Imada in the semifinals during Bellator 17 (May 2010).

Vanier, who trained extensively with Greg Jackson in New Mexico, has not fought since March of 2011, when he suffered a loss to Lloyd Woodard at Bellator 37.

Vanier is set to return to action against prospect Jordan Larson, who fights out of South Dakota. He’s compiled a 3-0 record as a pro and also was unbeaten as an amateur.

“Jordan Larson is a very tough kid, and he jumped at the chance to fight a veteran like Carey,” Rydell said. “He’s a scrapper, a well-rounded fighter. He doesn’t have the wrestling like Carey, but he’s a tough, young kid who’s coming here to pull off the upset.

“And we were thrilled to be able to add a Bellator veteran like Carey as he tries to work his way back to the big-time. Carey’s still a young guy with lots of potential.”

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)

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

Below is a recap of the event:Nov-22
The schedule has been adjusted for some reason. Computerized brackets are supposed to happen this morning so we will know which countries we fight in our first bouts soon. Opening Ceremonies have been pushed back to tomorrow (Wed) with the fights beginning immediately afterwards. It’s nice to have another day to sight see and adjust to the time zone change, but we are all eager to step into that ring!

Nov-22
The brackets have been announced and we got some decent opening round draws along with some really tough ones. Still no idea on fight order, but here’s what we drew in terms of brackets:
Jim Wilson got bye and will fight winner of Kazakhstan vs. Ireland
Adam Poore will fight Ireland
Chris Cichon will fight Kazakhstan
Nathan Key will fight Russia
Simon Buettner will fight Ukraine
Stevie Dement will fight Great Britian
Tecia Torres vs. Poland
Lisa Van Ahn vs Brazil
Amika Olchavik vs Finland
Amanda Ginski vs Great Britain

Nov-23
First day of the tournament and we got off to a rough start. Our three most experienced fighters all had very difficult first round fights against previous Gold and Silver medalists. Chris Cichon lost to Kazakhstan, Nathan Key lost to Russia, and Simon Buettner lost to Ukraine. All three had good fights and lost on points by judges decision.

Nov-24
Today so far: off to a much better start. Lisa Van Ahn beat Brazil, Stevie Dement beat Great Britain, Adam Poore lost to Ireland, Amika beat Finland, and Jimi lost to Kazakhstan. Tecia and Amanda up soon, then Stevie, Lisa, and Amika all fight once more today

Nov-24
It was a tough second half of the day as Lisa lost to Russia. Amika lost a nail bitter to #1 seed turkey and Amanda lost to Britain. But it ends on a high note as STEVIE DEMENT WINS OVER IRELAND AND ADVANCES TO MEDAL ROUND TOMORROW!

Nov-25
Stevie wins bronze. He lost a super close fight to Kazakhstan. Congrats Stevie!

The Medal Ceremony from the -91kg division. From Left: Silver Medal – Kazakhstan, Gold Medal – Russia, Bronze Medal – Hungary & USA’s Stevie Dement.