Bellator Fighting Championships today announced the signing of lightweight Corey Vanier (7-2), a former All-American wrestler and current protege of Greg Jackson.
Vanier will take part in the lightweight tournament in Bellator’s upcoming second season.
All but one of Vanier’s victories have come by TKO r submission, but his career has gone into overdrive since joining the fabled Jackson’s Submission Fighting school in New Mexico.
“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 competitor revealed for the upcoming lightweight tournament. He joins Georges St. Pierre training partner Mike Ricci and former Olympic judoka Ferrid Kheder in the tournament, which 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 was a high school wrestling star in wrestling-crazed Minnesota and earned All-American status at Ridgewater College. After college, Vanier took a job at the local Best Buy. He worked his way up the ranks until being named store manager. But he was never truly happy, and he began to scale back his hours in 2007 until finally handing 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 was invited to train with Jackson in November.
“I’ve come a long way,” he said. “I’ve reached the point where I’m ready to show the world what I can do.”