World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC) will kickoff its 2009 fight season by invading San Diego, Calif., for the first time ever at the San Diego Sports Arena on January 25.

WEC Lightweight Championship Jamie Varner will defend his 155-pound title against undefeated Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone in a main event that is sure to spark major fireworks. And promotion poster boy, former featherweight champion and hometown hero Urijah Faber will co-headline the show in a rematch against Jens Pulver.

Cerrone earned his opportunity at championship glory with a fantastic unanimous decision win over former division champion, "Razor" Rob McCullough, just last month. It was an absolute back-and-forth slugfest that has been mentioned as a "Fight of the Year" candidate.

"Cowboy" -- a member of Team Greg Jackson -- has an undefeated record of (9-0) thus far in his career, having won all three fights under the WEC banner. The decision win over McCullough was the first time in his career he had been taken past the second round.

Varner has been on a tear since making the transition from the UFC to the WEC, winning four consecutive bouts and finishing all of his opponents. Perhaps most impressive were his most recent stoppages of Marcus Hicks back in August and McCullough earlier this year.

"The Worm" will look to keep the hot streak alive in Southern California and hand Cerrone the first loss of his professional mixed martial arts career.

In the co main event, "The California Kid" (21-2) will once again challenge former UFC lightweight champion Jens Pulver – the pair first met in an action-packed five round scrap at WEC 34 back in June.
Faber came away with a clear unanimous decision in what is to date the most successful event ever for the promotion. Perhaps the WEC is hoping that lightning will strike twice the second time around even though "Lil Evil" has fallen on tough times of late.

In fact, the long-time Miletich Fighting Systems (MFS)-trained fighter — who recently switched camps — has dropped four of his last five fights. The soon-to-be 34-year-old veteran was most recently stopped early by Garcia in their showdown at WEC 36: "Faber vs. Brown" earlier this month.

It’s safe to say that this is a huge opportunity for Pulver to turn things around … fast. The only problem, however, is that he has to do it against a fighter who is widely regarded as among the top pound-for-pound fighters in the world today.

Faber held the WEC 145-pound title for two and a half years before getting caught by a well-placed, fight-ending right hand courtesy of the powerful Mike Brown in the first round of the WEC 36 main event three weeks ago.

The loss was only the second of his career and the first since getting stopped in the third round by Tyson Griffin at Gladiator Challenge 42: "Summer Slam" in September of 2005.

WEC 38 will air live on fight night (Sunday) at 9:30 p.m. ET on the Versus network. Stay tuned to MMAmania.com for more fight card updates.