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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
A long anticipated lightweight rematch between Jamie Varner and Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone may finally come to fruition, as Sherdog.com reports the bout is being targeted for the WEC 51 card in September.
The two met in January of 2009 at WEC 38 for Varner's Lightweight Championship, and the fight ended in controversy in the fifth round when Cerrone threw a knee when Varner was on a knee that grazed him. Varner suffered an eye injury and was unable to continue, sending the fight to the judges scorecards.
Varner had been winning the fight up until that point, and earned the unanimous decision from the judges to retain his title. He suffered a number of injuries in the fight, however, that kept him out of action until January of this year.
He would have faced Cerrone, but "The Cowboy" lost to Benson Henderson in an Interim Lightweight Championship bout. Varner was subsequently submitted by Henderson, who went on to defeat Cerrone a second time this April.
Varner got back into action last month, controversy again abounding as the judges scored a split draw in his fight against Kamal Shalorus. He sustained multiple low blows in the bout, and the draw meant neither of the fighters would be next in line for a title shot.
WEC 51 will be headlined by a Featherweight Championship bout between Jose Aldo and Manny Gamburyan.
Penick's Analysis: This is a fight fans have been waiting to see for a longtime. The first fight really kicked off the hate train on Varner, and he's never really recovered his image. But even his most ardent detractors felt some sympathy for him in the fight with Shalorus. With both sharing losses to Henderson this year, this should be a good rematch. However, should Cerrone lose this bout, it will have to spell a long talked about drop to featherweight.
RELATED STORY: WEC NEWS: Jose Aldo vs. Manny Gamburyan set for Featherweight Championship clash in WEC 51 main event: [CLICK TO READ FULL ARTICLE]
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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