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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief WEC Lightweight Champion Jamie Varner has been out of action with a broken hand and other injuries since his controversial victory over Donald Cerrone earlier this year, and now an expected rematch this fall looks to be out of the question.
Varner posted to his Twitter account today that he just got out of a doctor's visit where he found out his hand is still broken and he won't be able to compete anytime soon. He stated that he thought he was ready to fight as his hand wasn't hurting but the doctor "pulled the rug out" from his feet.
In the meantime, it seems the WEC may be moving forward with an Interim belt this fall according to a report from Maggie Hendricks at CageWriter. The report quotes the WEC's Dave Sholler, who said, "We're still waiting on the medical reports, but it looks like Varner won't be fighting in the foreseeable future...We're moving forward with the lightweight division, and we haven't ruled out an interim belt."
That likely puts Donald Cerrone in line for one of those slots in an Interim Title bout, and he had harsh words for the Champ on this latest development, "They have to do something. He can't just have a belt and not defend it. I certainly think I'd be in line for it...I think he keeps just stepping back and waiting for other guys to beat me so there won't be a rematch...I want to fight him because he's such a douchebag, but I'll fight whoever they tell me to."
Penick's Analysis: This is precisely what Interim belts are used for so it makes total sense. It's sad from a fan standpoint as the Varner-Cerrone rematch is one of the fights that everyone's definitely looking forward to, and it's highly unfortunate for Varner who comes out of this looking like he's trying to duck a rematch with Cerrone even though that's not at all the case. You can't help injuries when they happen, you just have to work to get healthy enough to get back into it. Cerrone will continue to talk this up even more, especially if he wins an Interim belt in the meantime, and at the very least it will make for an even more entertaining wait until the two finally do step back across one another in the cage.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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