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Jamie Varner didn’t want to retire. He just felt he didn’t have a choice.

Nine days before his fight with Drew Dober at UFC on FOX 13 in December, Varner had his bell rung in training. He went to the doctor and was told that he suffered a concussion. It wasn’t just that, either. After looking at tests, doctors determined that Varner had sustained more than 30 concussions in his life.

They recommended to the veteran lightweight that he step away from the fight game and Varner made the decision then that the fight against Dober would be his last. He fell via first-round submission after landing awkwardly on his head in the Dec. 13 fight in Phoenix and announced his retirement afterward.

Varner never knew how his concussions piled up like that. It wasn’t just getting knocked out, but almost every time he had his bell rung in training was a concussion.

“I had no idea,” Varner told Ariel Helwani on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour. “I felt like I was in a perpetual state of just constant migraines. I knew it was from sparring, but I thought it was OK. I thought it was normal and that’s what we have to do as fighters, part of the cross that we bare is having headaches and being beat up because we’re fighters.”

Varner, 30, still does not feel 100 percent and admits that he is concerned about what his future will be like. Doctors told him that a significant amount of concussions could lead to Alzheimer’s disease, dementia or other memory-loss afflictions.

Currently, he forgets simple things like whether or not he brushed his teeth in the morning or if he washed his hair in the shower. He has trouble articulating simple words. Varner is seeing a cognitive therapist three or four times per month and said he feels an improvement.

There was no doubting he had to get out when he did. But Varner, the former WEC lightweight champion, said he has no regrets about being a fighter. He only followed through with the Dober fight, because it was in his hometown and he felt obligated after all the media he had done.

“I definitely would’ve become a fighter,” Varner said. “This is what I was born to do. This was the chosen path for me.”

However, he would have done a few things differently. Varner said for most of his career he sparred three or four times per week hard. If he had to do it all over, he would spar only once a week, starting around six weeks before the fight. Varner said sparring is overdone in most fight camps, but for a logical reason.

“The best way to get in shape for a fight or to get ready for a fight is to get in a fight,” Varner said. “You’re sparring. Your training should always be harder than the fight. At least that’s what my coach told me.”

While Varner (21-11-1, 2 NC) won’t be getting into the Octagon again, he’s trying to hook on with the UFC in another capacity — fighter relations. He wants to be the guy imparting his knowledge on up-and-coming athletes in the organization. Varner has already had two interviews with the UFC and he will be speaking at a rookie symposium in June. If that goes well, it could turn into a full-time gig.

Varner won’t just talk about head injuries. As someone with a bachelor’s degree in finance, he also wants to advise fighters on how better to budget their money.

“There’s a lot of fighters that aren’t as knowledgeable,” Varner said. “They almost get used to those big paydays and rely on them, as opposed to me. I always planned for the absolute worst, which I think what you should do in life in general anyways. You can’t count on getting a knockout or fight of the night bonus. You can’t spend your money before you have it, which is what a lot of guys do.”

Varner said in December that he would be interested in helping fighters develop a union. First, he’s going to try and do something with the UFC to help the athletes. If not, he’ll try and start something on his own.

“I hope that the UFC will hire me and I can be the guy that the fighters can relate to,” Varner said. “If not, there’s gonna be something down the road that I would be looking to do to help these young fighters and even help some of the older fighters prepare for the life after fighting.”

Varner said there’s still quite a bit of fight in him and retirement has been hard. But after four straight losses — some of them via sheer bad luck — and the amount of concussions, he knew it was time.

“I felt like it was God’s way of telling me it was done,” he said. “I’m just gonna tarnish my reputation [if I continued]. I didn’t really want to go out the way I did, but at least I went out on my own terms.”

Saturday’s UFC Fight Night from Fairfax, Virginia, was like a sweet appetizer for the Final Four. No bracketology required.In no particular order, a top contender cemented his position in the featherweight division, controversy reigned in the co-main event, a fighter called out the President and a star may have been born in the women’s bantamweight class.It’s the day after, so let’s toss up these talking points:

 
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1. Chad Mendes may or may not get a third shot at the UFC featherweight title currently held by Jose Aldo, but this much is clear: He earn … Read the Full Article Here

If Frank Mir wants to fight someone who talks through an advocate, Todd Duffee has him covered.

Duffee has been trying hard to incite Mir into a fight on social media over the last few weeks. Mir was hoping to land a blockbuster rematch with Brock Lesnar, but Lesnar announced last week he would be re-signing with WWE.

On WWE television, Lesnar speaks to the crowd through advocate Paul Heyman. Duffee tried the same trick Monday on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani. The hulking heavyweight came on the show via Skype alongside his “manager” and former fighter Blake Bowman.

“Obviously, Frank wants to fight professional wrestlers that have mouthpieces talking for them,” Bowman said. “So now we have another beast that’s going to decimate Frank Mir.”

Last week on MMA Fight Corner with Heidi Fang, Mir said he didn’t want to fight Duffee, because Duffee was not ranked among UFC heavyweights. The former heavyweight champ changed his tune a bit with Fang on Monday, saying he’d be “open” to it if that’s the fight the UFC wants. And it was reported by Ariel Helwani on UFC Tonight on Wednesday that the fight will happen and it’s targeted for summer.

Duffee (9-2) has been coming at Mir on Twitter for more than a week, attempting to get him to accept a fight. Mir is ranked No. 11 among UFC heavyweight contenders and is coming off a knockout win over Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva in February. It seems like the gears are finally turning to get Duffee the fight he wants.

“I guess we should thank Frank Mir,” Bowman said. “Is that what he wants? That he acknowledged Todd Duffee? He won’t be thanking us if the fight goes down. But we are happy to see it.”

Duffee, 29, made his return from a debilitating bout with Parsonage Turner syndrome by knocking out Anthony Hamilton at UFC 181 in just 33 seconds back in December. The American Top Team product has now won three straight, all by first-round knockout.

Duffee said the reason why he used Bowman to speak for him in the interview is that he’s sick of talking about fighting and just wants to fight.

“He’s annoyed with everything,” Bowman said. “Not just Frank, but that he has to talk to get it. That he has to talk to even get recognized. He has to talk constantly. He’s hyped, he’s hyped and then the hype train just goes away. All the man wants to do is fight. He’s begging, ‘let me do this again, let me do this again, let me do this again.’ And it’s kind of fallen on deaf ears.”

Bowman said Mir was a bully for asking for fights with someone like Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, who he has already beaten, rather than Duffee.

“Todd is an alpha bully,” Bowman said. “Todd will bully his way all the way to Cain or whoever they have wearing a belt that’s pretending to be No. 1 contender, because Cain is the champ. And everybody else in between. He’ll bully his way through all of them.”

Mir (17-9) likely would have had that huge fight with Lesnar if Lesnar didn’t decide to re-sign with WWE. He lost four straight before knocking out “Bigfoot” last month, but the 35-year-old seems to be primed for another run in the heavyweight division.

Duffee hopes he’ll be next up for the jiu-jitsu specialist. Bowman joked that Duffee will be doing his interviews through him from now on.

“All Todd wants to do is eat, fight and eat some more,” Bowma said. “So somebody has to talk while he’s busy with his massive caloric intake to maintain his Greek god physique.”

The UFC’s biggest star is being shut out of Walmart.

Ronda Rousey has a new book coming out in May and it won’t be available at Walmart locations, because Rousey has been deemed too violent, according to a report from the New York Post’s Page Six (h/t Yahoo Sports).

Rousey’s first book, “My Fight/Your Fight,” comes out May 12 and thousands of copies have already been pre-sold at Barnes & Noble. The UFC women’s bantamweight champion has become a mainstream sensation, earning major roles in blockbuster films and appearing on all the popular daytime and late night talk shows.

“I’m shocked, shocked to discover that censorship is going on in America!” publisher Judith Regan told Page Six.

Walmart is the largest seller of guns and ammo in the United States and has also sold biographies of countless boxers as well as other MMA fighters. You can pre-order Rousey’s book on Walmart’s website. UFC DVDs, including those featuring Rousey, are also available at walmart.com.

Rousey, 28, had a role in “Furious 7,” which opened Friday and she’ll have a significant part in the “Entourage” movie that comes out in June. Next month, she’s filming a new movie called “Mile 22” — and she’ll be the star.

In the Octagon, Rousey is decimating the competition. She beat Cat Zingano by submission in just 14 seconds at UFC 184 in February. Before that, she dispatched Alexis Davis in 16 seconds.

Quickly, “Rowdy” has become MMA’s most popular attraction. Just not at Walmart.

Clay Guida has utilized the same style to earn more than 30 MMA wins: hard-nosed, in-your-face wrestling. It isn’t always pretty — OK, it rarely is — but there’s no doubting its effectiveness. Guida owns wins over the last two UFC lightweight champions: Anthony Pettis and Rafael dos Anjos.

There’s a double-edged sword with wrestling, though. It’s not the most exciting aspects of MMA. There’s a reason why guys like Ben Askren are not in the UFC.

Guida, for one, is sick of it. He is upset by fans who boo good wrestlers in MMA, because they feel like the style is boring.

“I guess being an exciting wrestler helps, but it all starts with the oldest sport that we almost lost a couple of years ago [from the Olympics],” Guida said Saturday in a post-fight press conference after a win over Robbie Peralta. “So, shame on those fans. I hope they get more educated.”

Guida used his wrestling once again to earn himself a unanimous decision victory over Peralta at UFC Fight Night: Mendes vs. Lamas on Saturday in Fairfax, Va. It happened to be a card headlined by a pair of strong wrestlers — Chad Mendes and Ricardo Lamas — too.

“I got a message for those fans,” Guida said. “Without wrestling, mixed martial arts would not be a sport. … Without wrestling, it would not be here. Without jiu-jitsu, there would be no mixed martial arts.”

Some fans boo wrestling, but the ones in Fairfax appreciated Guida. There were loud chants of his name throughout the fight — which was far from the most exciting of the afternoon.

Guida (32-15) has always been a fan favorite and perennially near the top of both the lightweight and featherweight divisions. He told Jon Anik after beating Peralta that he wanted fights in both divisions moving forward.

“The Carpenter,” who changed his camp from Jackson-Winkeljohn MMA to Glendale Fighting Club and Team Alpha Male before this fight, has won two of three at 145. He is 3-2 since moving down after a long, successful run at lightweight. Guida, 33, has compiled a 12-9 record in his UFC career.

And, really, he owes most of that to one thing: wrestling. Guida was a star wrestler at Harper College and has carried it over to stalwart MMA career.

“It’s not the most exciting all the time,” Guida said of wrestling. “My fights are very sloppy, not very technical by any means. But we’re always on the gas pedal. We’re always on the throttle.”