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Victory has been elusive for Lando Vannata since his thrashing of John Makdessi at UFC 206. However, the lightweight continues to persevere, and proof of this is his four post-fight bonuses. On Feb. 9, he will take another crack at the limelight when he welcomes newcomer Marcos Rosa Mariano into the Octagon.
Expect Vannata to go balls to the wall when the Ultimate Fighting Championship visits Melbourne, Australia, for UFC 234. Before he tries to get his groove back, here are five things you might not know about the man they call “Groovy.”
1. He dropped everything to pursue mixed martial arts.
Vannata started training Brazilian jiu-jitsu when he was 13 and began wrestling during his sophomore year. His best performance as a wrestler was placing fifth place at the Florida state championship during his senior year of high school. He went on to wrestle for the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, a Division 1 school. However, he dropped out after one semester. Determined to reach his goals, he packed his bags and moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico, and trained at Jackson-Wink MMA before moving to Donald Cerrone’s BMF Ranch.
2. It’s probably hard to see him getting bored.
MMA is everything to Vannata, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t do anything else when he isn’t inside training. “Groovy” keeps himself busy with a ton of other things. For one, he’s an avid trampolinist. He also likes to travel and go backpacking, camping and motorcycling. You can add archery to the list, a sport he picked up almost two years ago.
3. He’s a two-time national BMX champion.
Vannata thrives in competition. This applies not only to the Octagon but also in other activities. He’s competed in archery despite being new to the sport. Even more impressive is the fact that he was a two-time national BMX champion by the age of six.
4. He used to be a sandwich artist.
Training full-time while fighting at local shows isn’t a financially viable scenario for anyone. That’s why Vannata worked as a sandwich artist for Subway to make ends meet. He was making around $18,000 a year and didn’t have his own transportation. Of course, things have drastically changed since then.
5. He loves post-fight bonuses.
Vannata has had six fights in the UFC and has garnered four post-fight bonuses. He may have gone 1-2-1 in those bouts, but there’s a reason he was re-signed by the promotion. “Groovy” never fails to entertain fans from his debut where he gave Tony Ferguson a run for his money, to the time he engaged in a bloody slugfest with Bobby Green. In all, he has earned three Fight of the Night and one Performance of the Night bonuses.