Filed under: WEC, FanHouse Exclusive, News
If it feels like Jamie Varner and Donald Cerrone have been at each other’s throats for two years, well, it’s because they have.
The two first fought in January 2009. Varner won via technical decision after Cerrone landed an illegal knee to Varner’s head in the fifth round of their title fight.
Varner was winning the bout on most people’s scorecards up until that point (I had him winning four rounds to none), but Cerrone, who was beginning to put the heat on Varner in the fifth stanza felt like the then-champion was looking for a way out.
Varner and Cerrone hugged it out that night in San Diego and promised to fight again sometime in the near future. There appeared to be a mutual respect between the fighters who had just gone toe-to-toe for almost 25 minutes, but that fight just kicked off an avalanche of trash-talk that has lasted approximately 21 months.
For a number of different reasons — injuries being a primary one — Cerrone and Varner’s paths never crossed until now. The lightweights will finally look to squash their long-standing beef Thursday night on Versus at WEC 51 in Broomfield, Colo.