WEC Plans to Strip Lightweight Title From Jamie Varner: Is His Career Over? (UPDATED)
by Lewish on Jun 30, 2009 1:51 PM EDT
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According to the Youngstown Vindicator, in an article announcing an upcoming WEC show in Youngstown on September 2nd, the WEC plans to strip current Lightweight champion Jamie Varner of his belt. Also a very interesting quote from WEC GM Reed Harris is included:
This is the first WEC card in Ohio.
"We looked at a number of areas because we want to go and grow in new markets," said Reed Harris, WEC’s general manager and founder. "Youngstown is a great fight town. We also looked at Pittsburgh and Cleveland, but we felt Youngstown would be a centralized venue."
The main event for the card, with 10 or 11 bouts, is for the lightweight title between Donald Cerrone and Ben Henderson.
The WEC plans to strip the lightweight title shortly from Jamie Varner, who won a fight by split decision in the fifth round in January against Cerrone. The fight had to be stopped after Cerrone hit Varner in the head with his knee in an illegal move.
During that fight, Varner broke a hand and a foot, and may never fight again, Harris said.
This is the first news we've heard about Varner's injuries being so serious it may end his career. It certainly would be a shame if the 24-year old had to end his fighting days so early.
photo via brawlin.net
[UPDATE] - Apparently Harris' words may have been taken a bit out of context and currently Varner will not yet be stripped of his title. NWI MMA Blog has more.
The main event at WEC 43 will be an interim lightweight title fight between Donald Cerrone and Ben Henderson.
Reached Tuesday for clarification, Harris elaborated on his comment.
"Jamie’s injured and I’m not sure when he’s going to come back," Harris said. "And (the Vindicator reporter) said, ‘Is there a chance he couldn’t come back?’ and I said, ‘Of course — he’s got an injury to his hand.’ So for that reason, we did this as an interim belt. Obviously if he can’t come back, we will do it as a permanent title."
"Varner's tried twice to come back and not been able to. We’re looking at the possibility that he might NOT come back. I think it’s going to be a while (before he could come back). The doctor said it is healing, and they had actually gone back in probably two and half to three months ago to do more work on it." said Harris.
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does anyone else wanna say that Varner took the cowards way out after eating that illegal knee?
Here’s hoping he gets better
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Are you saying that the illegal knee to the head broke his hand and foot?
by mythbuster on Jun 30, 2009 12:22 PM EDT up reply actions 3 recs
does anyone else wanna say that Varner took the cowards way out after eating that illegal knee?
I don’t really see how that relevant. After he ate the knee (Which was definitely illegal) he complained that the reason he couldn’t continue was because he couldn’t see. These injuries are to his hand and foot. They have nothing to do with the knee.
I’m not saying I think Varner took the “cowards way out”, but I don’t see how these new developments refute anybody who has that opinion.
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by TheViking83 on Jun 30, 2009 12:23 PM EDT up reply actions
(Which was definitely illegal)
You mean legal. Replay shows it was legal but yeah it was close. Anyway, Varner punked out IMO. Look at his face in that pic above. Worst acting job ever.
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by xFenixKnightx on Jun 30, 2009 12:38 PM EDT up reply actions
i dont know... it was damn close
I agree with the call that was made that night. It was illegal, but Cerrone was SO CLOSE that there is no way it was an intentionally illegal knee.
I’ve seen the fight a few times and although I think it was EXTREMELY CLOSE, I found it to be illegal.
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Regardless of whether the knee was illegal or not, it looked like an acting job to me and the other fans in the arena that night.
When it was thrown it was legal but by the time it landed it was illegal.
by Nick Thomas on Jun 30, 2009 2:34 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
that's a really great slow-mo breakdown
thanks for posting it!
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So do the rules
state the legality of a move is determined by when it lands? That really sucks because this shot is great & conclusively shows it was legal at the time it was thrown.
Arguing on the internet is like being in the special olympics, even when you win you are still retarded.
Its up to the ref. If its thrown in a legal way and when it land it is illegal, the they usually let it go. They don’t want you to attack a downed guy with knees, but they don’t want you to hesitate because a guy is using that rule to defend himself. It was close, but it looked legal to me. But that is in hind sight. Live, I thought it was illegal.
I know, that is my point.
I know that we have the benefit of replay, but for Cerrone to lose because of that is bullshit. I hope Varner is able to come back, but this still burns me.
Arguing on the internet is like being in the special olympics, even when you win you are still retarded.
Cerrone didn’t lose because of that. He lost because Varner was well ahead on the judges’ cards. It’s not like he was disqualified.
Well, if the knee was treated as legal he would have won by stoppage.
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by Richard Wade on Jun 30, 2009 4:00 PM EDT up reply actions
Yes, he would have, Varner could not continue and the ref would have stopped it.
A man should never waste an opportunity to keep his mouth shut.
he couldn't continue because of vision problems
which he wouldn’t have mentioned if it wasn’t cause by a foul. again, you don’t know that it would have been stopped at all.
Close
True Varner was ahead but not that far ahead . Cerrone was bringing it and probably would have pulled it out in the 5th round before a gassed Varner punked out.
It’s up to the ref in the same way everything else is, but I’m pretty sure it’s still illegal if the opponent is downed when it lands, no matter what was happening when it was thrown. A referee can decline to call it if he likes, but that means he’s allowing an illegal blow.
Not by the rules explained to me by Mario Yamasaki. I sat in on the rules meeting for a UWC local show. He said to not hesitate with knees. He said if they went down then it was a legal knee. A second knee would be called as a foul though.
Fair enough. I’d certainly hope he knows the rules better than I do. I have to wonder if another ref would say the same though. I know there has been some confusion amongst referees in the past about what exactly constitutes an illegal strike.
For sure. Unified rules are great, but you also need uniform enforcement.
by szucconi on Jun 30, 2009 3:50 PM EDT up reply actions 4 recs
Not Relevant... true.
does anyone else wanna say that Varner took the cowards way out after eating that illegal knee?
These injuries are to his hand and foot. They have nothing to do with the knee.
Varner has taken alot of heat for not continuing due to the knee, which has nothing to do with his injuries or the injury (hand) that is keeping him from defending his title. I can’t speak for ElliotMatheny, but I do believe alot of fans question the use of words like “coward” and “quitter” in light of the fact that Varner was fighting, and I might add beating Cerrone (it did go to the cards), with a broken hand (that might be career ending) and a broken foot. Every injury is different, especially when you use a generic term like a broken hand, but with the recent Faber fight showing how ineffective a fighter can be with a busted mit….well, Varner seems pretty tough to me.
by Saevus Antistes on Jun 30, 2009 2:22 PM EDT up reply actions
Jesus Christ.
That sucks.
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i’d hold off til we hear this from another source. not saying the “vindicator” isn’t legit, but it’s possible harris’s words could be getting misinterpreted here.
not necessarily a varner fan, but it would certainly be a shame if he had to hang it up so soon. probably more likely that he takes any extended time to completely recover.
First news?
This isn’t the first news of this… in fact, this same issue came up right after the fight about whether or not Varner’s career could be in jeopardy due to the multiple injuries. I’ve had an ongoing conversation with a friend regarding whether or not he’d actually fight again, and we talked about the broken foot at least a month or two ago.
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Yeah, but...
was that initial talk about “Will he fight again” regarding his sight?? It seemed that right from the start people were worried that the knee hit the temple and did some serious eye or head damage. I know that when I first saw it, and heard Varner saying “I’m sorry, but I can’t see!!” I thought the worst. Now that all I’m hearing is hand and foot injuries, I don’t feel nearly as bad for Varner as I did then.
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It was his sight, but then it turned into a question regarding the injuries in totality. I know that there was some speculation regarding his foot and hand as well being potentially fatal to his career.
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by Leland Roling on Jun 30, 2009 2:00 PM EDT up reply actions
I, too, remember speculation about this right after his last fight.
Didn’t think much of it at the time, though.
by a tommy point on Jun 30, 2009 2:32 PM EDT up reply actions
Shucks
I really wanted to see Cerrone get his revenge.
by Derek Suboticki on Jun 30, 2009 2:19 PM EDT reply actions
As Leland said this isn’t the first time this was brought up about Varner’s career possibly being over, though previously it was due to an eye injury, not the broken hand and foot.
Reed Harris did a follow up with NWI.com to the article quoted above where he clarifies his comments about Varner’s career being over by saying the reported asked him if his career could be over and he basically said that’s possible with any fight who has a broken hand. He also says Cerrone-Henderson is for an interim title with the hope that the winner will fight Varner next to unify the belts.
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by kriskarkoski on Jun 30, 2009 2:40 PM EDT reply actions 1 recs
I do not like to see any fighter’s career end due to injury, especially so young and promising as Varner. Really really a shame. I can’t imagine how he must feel right now.
by Nick Travaglini on Jun 30, 2009 2:40 PM EDT reply actions
I’m not going to kick a man while he is down… the fight w/ Cerrone is done and over with, although I don’t agree with the outcome one bit… if Jamie Varner is done for the rest of his career, this is bad news.
He may act like an arrogant douche, but he is also an incredibly skilled fighter that made it this far for a reason. He does great things for his community in Arizona along with the others from ACS, he gives back which not a whole lot do. This is how he supports himself and his family and I wouldn’t wish this kind of bad news to anyone in this economy.
What the fuck is a "robster craw"?
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