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By Matt Pelkey, MMATorch Columnist I'm generally not one to call out fighters. There's something within them that doesn't exist in you or me that allows them to put there lives on the line every time they fight. I even buy all of Rampage's reasons for turning down the title shot against Machida for the TUF coaching gig instead. So why is it that something seems fishy about this whole Jamie Varner situation? Perhaps its because no matter what angle I look at it from, it seems to point to Varner ducking a fight with Donald Cerrone. And it begins in round 5 of their first encounter.
Make no mistake, Varner beat the bajeezus out of Donald Cerrone in that fight. At least he did for the first four rounds. A funny thing happened in the fifth round, though. I think Cerrone broke Varner's will. Varner dished out absolutely everything he had, and Cerrone just kept on coming. Every time Cerrone managed to make it back to his feet, he'd immediately stalk Varner down like he was a Terminator or something.
I've watched the knee Cerrone delivered to a "downed" Varner probably two dozen times. I still can't understand how that was such a devastating blow. Varner's body language and over-the-top languishing screamed of a fighter looking for a way out. In his post-fight interview he complained that he'd broken his hand and foot during the fight. Fighters mention their injuries after fights all the time, but when your fight ended controversially due to a knee to the head while you're down, it comes across as suspicious that you'd complain about broken bones elsewhere. Again, it seemed like he was looking for a way out.
In interviews since the fight (including the post-fight interview), Varner has repeatedly stated, he's ready to face Cerrone again "as soon as the doctors clear me to fight". Now I don't know Varner personally, so maybe he just chooses his words differently than most fighters. Generally fighters coming off of injuries are itching to get back in the ring/cage and let everyone who will listen know that. Rarely do they put the onus on the doctor, basically saying, "well I really want to get back in there, but I just don't know if this doctor is gonna let me".
At WEC 41 Varner claimed he'd be ready to get back into action and defend his lightweight title in September. Now he says he had a visit to the doctor and his hand won't be cleared in time. I'm not calling him a liar, there's certainly medical records somewhere that can back him up, but after Cerrone was renamed the #1 contender at WEC 41, he doesn't seem like he's itching for another crack at The Cowboy.
Its certainly adding fuel to the fire for Cerrone. First, after being nothing but respectful to Cerrone in the post-fight interview, Varner went online and claimed Cerrone didn't belong in the same cage as him. Now, there's this horribly fractured hand that will likely force Cerrone to fight someone else for an interim title while Varner stays on the mend. Cerrone thinks Varner is ducking him in hopes that he'll lose before they have to rematch. And I'm starting to agree with him.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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