Early career Building on his impressive senior year at Center Grove, Bailey entered Division III
Maranatha Baptist Bible College in Wisconsin where he continued to thrive on the mats, earning All-Conference three times and being named NCAA National Qualifier. The Church Ministries major returned to Indianapolis after graduation and began to train with
Jake O'Brien and
Chris Lytle to stay active as he mulled over an offer to move to
Colorado Springs to train at the Olympic Training Center with the World Team training camp. Bailey began to feel more comfortable in the sport and decided to decline the invitation in order to pursue mixed martial arts and soon after, in 2006, Bailey had his first professional fight, a first-round TKO victory over Jason Cook. For the past four years, Bailey has trained with Integrated Fighting Academy while also working part-time for the Indianapolis Fire Department with
Chris Lytle. During this time, he has earned notable victories over
John Kolosci and
Waachiim Spiritwolf. He won his debut via unanimous decision. Bailey then replaced an injured Bryan Travers, as he fought
Justin Wilcox at
Strikeforce Challengers 7 on March 26, 2010. He lost via unanimous decision and was subsequently released.
The Ultimate Fighter In 2011, it was announced that Bailey had signed with the
UFC to compete in
The Ultimate Fighter: Team Lesnar vs. Team dos Santos. Bailey was picked first on Team dos Santos and second overall. In the first preliminary bout of the season, Bailey was selected to fight Nordin Asrih. Bailey used his wrestling to control Asrih on the ground and win a clear-cut decision. In the quarterfinals, he fought
Chris Cope but lost via unanimous decision after two rounds. After the fight Shamar was visibly upset with the decision, saying numerous times, "he fought well, but not that good".
Ultimate Fighting Championship Even though he lost in the quarterfinals, Bailey remained signed after the show. He made his official UFC debut June 4, 2011 on
The Ultimate Fighter 13 Finale card, fighting against fellow quarterfinalist and teammate, Ryan McGillivray. He won the fight via unanimous decision. Bailey dropped to Lightweight in order to face
Evan Dunham at
UFC Fight Night 25. He lost the fight via unanimous decision. Bailey faced
Danny Castillo on November 19, 2011, at
UFC 139. During the official weigh ins, Bailey failed to make the weight limit for the Lightweight division. Bailey came in three pounds over, which resulted being fined 20 percent of his earnings, and the bout took place at a Catchweight of 158 lb. He lost the fight via TKO in the first round. After the loss to Castillo, Bailey was released from the promotion.
Post UFC Bailey was scheduled to face UFC veteran
Karo Parisyan at ShoFight 20 on June 16, 2012, for the vacant ShoFight Welterweight Championship. However, due to a medical suspension, Bailey was pulled from the fight and replaced by
John Gunderson Xtreme Fighting Championships Bailey faced Bellator veteran
Luis Santos at XFC 23 on April 19, 2013. He lost the fight via TKO at just over a minute into the first round.
Retirement On October 7, 2014, Bailey announced his retirement from MMA competition. ==Mixed martial arts record==