Jamie Varner vs Donald Cerrone 2 could be next for WEC with Ben Henderson hurt

by James Iannotti on Oct 15, 2009 9:13 PM EDT Comment 25 comments

During last Saturday night's five-round, back-and-forth WEC 43 main event between Ben "Smooth" Henderson and Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone for the promotion's interim lightweight title, both fighters left absolutely everything they had inside the cage.

It was an epic battle for the ages and a surefire candidate for "Fight of the Year" honors.

For Henderson the win meant he had earned himself an opportunity to unify the 155-pound title with a showdown opposite injured champion, Jamie Varner, during a future WEC event set for "The Worn's" hometown of Phoenix, Ariz., in December.

It is a match up that would certainly have a great chance to live up to the high standard the WEC has set for main event fights so far in 2009.

However, Varner and Cerrone have waged a fierce verbal battle outside the cage since their initial encounter at WEC 38 earlier this year, which ended ugly (and early) via split decision because of fifth round foul from which Varner could not recover. He got the win from the judges, but he was ridiculed in the court of public opinion for how he handled the decision afterward.

So it seemed that with a win over Cerrone, Henderson had spoiled the chances of there being a grudge match anytime soon between "Cowboy" and Varner.

Not so fast.

It now appears that the fight between Henderson and Varner has possibly been put on hold. And there's a chance that "Cowboy" could be stepping in as a replacement for Henderson, who suffered extreme dehydration after the fight last weekend.

In fact, Henderson reportedly collapsed in the locker room shortly after the match and was rushed to more than one hospital, needing multiple IVs to recover.

In addition, Henderson injured his left eye after eating an upkick in the last minute of the fight that split it open that will need time to heal.

Perhaps more time than the WEC is willing to wait.

Earlier today on ESPNs "MMA Live," guest host and teammate of Donald Cerrone at Greg Jackson's Submission Fighting, Rashad Evans, had this to say when asked if it looked like Henderson and Varner would still be fighting in December to unify the belts even in spite of "Smooth's" medical issues:

"No it doesn't, and it looks like "Cowboy" is going to go ahead and get the fight with Varner."

Interesting "unofficial" news if it is indeed true. And either way, the promotion is in a win-win situation -- Varner, Cerrone and Henderson all fighting, regardless of the order, have all the ingredients for more fireworks.

Stay tuned to MMAmania.com for more on this developing story.

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Comments

hate to say its good news to see a fighter get injured, but this fight needed to happen! lets go donald! beat that punk down so we can see henderson/cerrone 2!!

by brendan on Oct 15, 2009 9:25 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I didnt like Varner after he won that fight over a illegal knee to the face that clearly wasnt the reason why he couldnt continue but he used it so he could stop the fight and keep his belt becouse he knows if he would of stopped becouse of his broken hand and foot injuries he would have lost his belt but that being said Donald has really started to annoy me he keeps talking about Varner I mean after a while it gets old and that stunt where he and leanard were trying to punk varner backstage and even leonard said if they would have gotten into a fight they would have jumped him, I mean thats total pussy shyt only punk ass pussy’s need to go around trying to punk and intimidate people people specially jumping them so now I hope Varner beats his ass he was winning the first fight for sure I say Varner takes this one

by Nor Cal Mexican on Oct 15, 2009 9:40 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

have u ever heared of a period??

by guyverbob on Oct 15, 2009 9:53 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

you must be the type of guy that jumped people because they could kick your ass huh guy? i agree with norcal mexican here varner has never said anything wrong and in fact said he thought cerrone was a tough guy, and cerrone is acting like a punkass about it, HE WAS LOSING THE FIGHT WHEN IT WAS STOPPED!!! it wasn’t stopped when cerrone was taking a round to win he was down 3-1 in a 5 round fight.. could the fight have been stopped soon if it continued? maybe but varner could have gotten a takedown and laid on donald just as easily.. fact is it got stopped and donald was getting his ass absolutely handed to him for the majority of the fight. he lost on points because hes an idiot and never worked on his takedown defense, and still has not. varner by 1st rd tko of ground n pound

by randy murders on Oct 15, 2009 10:17 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

ur not very smart randy, u make little sense and ur combacks r rediculous..

by guyverbob on Oct 15, 2009 11:42 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

FIGHT.FIGHT.FIGHT

by Icantthinkofanything on Oct 16, 2009 9:46 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Nor Cal, I think your run-on sentences are awesome. Guyver, you shouldn’t criticize people for punctuation and then murder the english language yourself.

by wAyNe on Oct 16, 2009 10:09 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Damn! I didn’t capitalize the word: “English”. I’m such a hypocrite.

by wAyNe on Oct 16, 2009 10:12 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

yeah, his DETACHED RETINA clearly wasn’t the reason he couldn’t continue.

Go fight for 2 minutes with a broken hand and foot, then get a detached retina in the final 4 minutes and tell me you’re going to keep fighting. You wouldn’t do what this guy did if you stubbed your toe beforehand, let alone broke 2 of your body parts and lost the ability to see.

Sick of hearing you armchair warriors acting like you know what it’s like to be in the cage. Keep your opinion to yourself. Jamie won that fight by decision, not by disqualification, the only chance Cerrone had to win was to get a finish. It’s a joke that people think Varner was just trying to quit when he fought the previous 4 rounds with a broken foot and hand.

by al;sdkfa;lj on Oct 16, 2009 4:23 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Shame for Ben but Donald was hard done by in the decision, so he deserves to be the one to fight Varner. Should be a great fight and as long as Ben gets the winner it works out well, as finally we can stop hearing excuses from Varner and Cowboy over their last fight while Smooth gets to unify the belts in a fight that promises to be exciting as well.

Cowboy won me over with that gutsy performance and Henderson proved that he is more of a warrior than Varner could ever dream of being. Hopefully the talented but gutless Varner loses the belt and Henderson-Cerrone 2 takes place to unify the belts, with a more definitive winner this time.

by David W-S on Oct 15, 2009 9:32 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I can’t believe Smooth was taken to Hospital after the fight for dehydration. He looked fresh in every round and was barely panting after I think 3 attempted & deep choke holds in the first 2 mins!!

by IrishKev on Oct 16, 2009 2:03 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Let Cerrone own that clown Varner and do a rematch between Henderson and Cerrone.

by John k. on Oct 15, 2009 9:37 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I love that Varner and Henderson both got their asses kicked so bad they have to go to the hospital yet theyget the “win” over Cerrone. Well hopefully Cerrone takes advantage of this and doesn’t start out slow against Varner and just plain whoops his ass and then does the same to Henderson. Starting out way too slow seemed to be Cerrones problem in both fights.

by jj on Oct 15, 2009 9:38 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Cerrone should be an underdog against Varner after losing to both Varner and Henderson. Some might be able to make some big money off of this fight.

by jj on Oct 15, 2009 9:45 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

exactly what the fans wanted!! :) hell ya!!! i think it’s going to end quick, cause there is so much bad blood and someone is just gonna get caught. I just see both these guys swinging 4 the fences, unless varner wants to play it safe AGAIN, by using his wrestling. Who knows????

by jman on Oct 15, 2009 10:03 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

has anyone else heard about carlos condit vs paul daily for UFC 108??

by guyverbob on Oct 15, 2009 10:09 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

First I’ve heard, that would be a good fight. I’m wondering who Kos will fight next, as he tweeted that his next opponent will be announced soon. I presumed he’d fight Daley, looks like he might get Hughes after all though if Condit-Daley is happening because all of the other top 10 WWs are signed up to fight.

by David W-S on Oct 15, 2009 10:42 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

KOS by 2nd Round KO if thats the case.

by torresisawarrior on Oct 15, 2009 11:06 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Isn’t hughes rumored to fight trigg in the near future?

by Namk on Oct 16, 2009 3:14 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

How about these three just keep fighting each other. Cowboy gets into epic brawls, it’s amazing.

by lil4alot on Oct 15, 2009 10:52 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

cerrone jus lost 2 of 3 fights he doesnt deserve a title shot after just losing!! give varner a different name…castillo maybe? id say razor or pettis bt that fights already next month ..cowboys lucky if he gets this shot again…hope he gets brutally Ko’d

by mandaverann9990 on Oct 15, 2009 11:40 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Varner will beat donald again, I hope henderson can pull it together and fight because i think he would beat varner but cerrone will get beat down again.

by mma guru on Oct 16, 2009 1:42 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

this is a total win for the WEC. they get varner cerrone 2 and then a unification bout after that. and henderson hospitalized for dehydration? must have been a rough cut.

by JB on Oct 16, 2009 8:07 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

you guys are all clowns who can talk te smack and when it comes down to it, that gutless Varner would ass rape you and make your butthole big enough to stick a coffee can into. No matter what these guys do, they are there and we are here. Grow up and stop ur jaw poppin.

by Talking to these fags on Oct 16, 2009 1:57 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I like Henderson’s toughness but he exposed himself to way more abuse than he needed to in the Cerrone fight. Not too smart on his part. Getting hit in the eye with that upkick near the end of the fight was just careless on his part.

by sudnvictory on Oct 18, 2009 3:36 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs