411's WEC 38: Varner vs. Cerrone Report 1.25.09
Posted by Jeremy Lambert on 01.25.2009
Jamie Varner retained his WEC Lightweight title against Donald Cerrone as a great fight came to a sour ending with an unintentional knee. Elsewhere, Urijah Faber got back to his winning ways with an impressive victory over Jens Puler. Click for the full report.
-Opening video
-Craig Hummer and Frank Mir are the hosts. They talk about the two main events on the card.
-Video preview for Jose Aldo vs. Rolando Perez
Featherweight Fight: Jose Aldo (12-1) vs. Rolando Perez (4-1-1)
Round One: Aldo landing a good counter right and leg kicks. Spinning back kick by Aldo grazes Perez. More leg kicks and then follows with a high kick. Perez getting more comfortable and landing shots now. Body head combo by Perez. Good right hand by Aldo and he continues to land leg kicks. Another good right and tops it off with a head kick by Aldo. Perez bleeding out of his nose. Big knee by Aldo knocks down Perez and Aldo pounds him out until the ref jumps in.
-Aldo runs out of the cage and into the stands to celebrate.
Official Decision: Jose Aldo by TKO at 4:15 in Round One
-Aldo says there are tough people at 145 but he'll fight anyone
-Video promo for WEC: Brown vs. Garcia
-Hummer interviews Leonard Garcia and Mike Brown. Garcia is excited to be fighting in Texas. Brown took time off after the Faber fight but is ready to go against Garcia.
-The Tapout Crew, Rashad Evans, and Brock Larson are in attendance
-Video preview for Danillo Villefort vs. Mike Campbell
Welterweight Fight: Danillo Villefort (8-2) vs. Mike Campbell (6-0)
Round One: Body kicks by Campbell. Campbell catches a body kick and takes Villefort down. Villefort gets rubber guard. Campbell picks him up and slams him down. Villefort goes for a leg lock. Campbell spins out and they both get to their feet. Villefort hits a body kick but falls down. Campbell gets on top and into guard. Villefort sweeps with the kneebar and gets side control. Campbell gives up his back but he's able to stand up. Villefort clinches and throws him down and into side control. Villefort easily passes to mount. Elbows by Villefort. Campbell gives up his back. Villefort lands a lot of punches. Campbell covers up and the ref finally stops it.
Official Decision: Danillo Villefort by TKO at 3:53 in Round One
-Villefort says he wants to win the belt.
-Torres vs. Maeda was voted the best WEC fight of 2008
Bantamweight Fight (Prelim): Scott Jorgensen (5-2) vs. Frank Gomez (6-0)
Round One: Jorgensen pushes him into the cage early and Gomez goes for a double leg but Jorgensen locks in a tight guillotine. Gomez taps out.
Official Decision: Scott Jorgensen by Submission (Guillotine Choke) at 1:09 in Round One
-Video preview for Urijah Faber vs. Jens Pulver
Featherweight Fight: Urijah Faber (21-2) vs. Jens Pulver (22-10-1)
Round One: Faber throws a high kick and Pulver shoves him down. Faber up quick and they clinch. They break away. Body kick by Faber. Faber rocks Pulver with a body shot and follows with knees. Pulver drops down and Faber locks in a guillotine. Pulver taps out.
Official Decision: Urijah Faber by Submission (Guillotine Choke) at 1:34 in Round One
-Faber wants his belt back.
-Jens Pulver starts crying in the middle of the ring but he says that he's not done.
-Frank Mir breaks down Cerrone vs. Varner. Mir picks Varner to win.
-Video preview for Donald Cerrone vs. Jamie Varner.
Round One: Body kick by Cerrone. Long feeling out process. Big left and followed by a right by Varner. Varner scores with a takedown. Cerrone trying to use rubber guard. Varner picks him up and slams him down. Varner postures up and starts throwing bombs. More big shots by Varner but Cerrone survives. Big knot on the forehead of Cerrone. Varner continuing to stand over Cerrone and coming down with big punches. Varner slips as he tries to stand and Cerrone gets to his feet. Big right by Cerrone. Round ends. 10-9 Varner.
Round Two: Body kicks by Cerrone. Varner scores with a takedown. Varner passes to side control but Cerrone gets him right back to guard. Cerrone rolls and gets back to his feet. Varner just misses with a big right. Cerrone really composed on the feet. Varner catches a body kick and gets the takedown. Varner postures and lands more heavy punches. Cerrone scrambles and gets to his feet. Cerrone walking down Varner on the feet. Cerrone using the kicks nicely. Cerrone starting to tag Varner with punches. Big right grazes Cerrone. Another takedown for Varner. Cerrone goes for a triangle but the round ends. 10-9 Varner.
Round Three: Varner draws a line in the middle to start. Cerrone scoring well with the jab. Cerrone really controlling the stand up now. Varner moves forward and tags Cerrone with a big right. Takedown by Varner. Cerrone is cut below the eye. Cerrone rolls to the turtle position and Varner goes for a guillotine but Cerrone fights it off. They get back to their feet. Cerrone's eye is starting to swell shut. Cerrone still scoring with punches and moving away nicely. Cerrone tagging Varner with jabs. Varner scores with a takedown and ends up in guard. The round ends. 10-9 Varner.
Round Four: Big head kick by Varner and Cerrone doesn't even flinch. Body kick by Cerrone. Cerrone pressing forward and Varner backing up quick. Varner gets the takedown and ends up in guard. Cerrone doing a good job to control Varner. Cerrone pushes Varner away and gets to his feet. Another takedown by Varner. Varner stands and eats some up kicks but he comes down with some good punches. Varner passes to half guard but Cerrone gets him back in guard as the round ends. 10-9 Varner.
Round Five: They hug to start the round. Varner with a quick takedown. Cerrone with some elbows from the bottom and then shoves Varner away to get to his feet. Cerrone gets a takedown and ends up in half guard. Varner tries to stand and Cerrone goes for a knee. The ref jumps in and calls it an illegal knee as Varner's knees were still on the ground. The doctor come in to check on Varner. Varner says that he can't see. The doctor and ref stop the fight.
The fight is going to go to the scorecards with four rounds being scored since the knee was unintentional.
Official Decision: Jamie Varner via Split Decision (49-46, 47-48, 49-46)
-Varner apologizes for the ending and says that he's better than that.
-Cerrone hints at wanting another shot at the title. Varner says that they'll do it again.
varner was a punk. he was winning but gassed. so he took an easy way out.
Posted By: rey (Guest) on January 26, 2009 at 12:29 AM
It's what Varner always does...he looks for the easy way out. That knee didn't even connect, but he played it fully.
God, I wish he had been up off of his knees so Cerrone's knee would have blasted him into oblivion and we'd have a REAL champion.
Posted By: mrw420 (Guest) on January 26, 2009 at 01:29 AM
varner is should take huerta's lead and go to acting he put on one hell of a performance last night
Posted By: peterparkerspyderman (Guest) on January 26, 2009 at 02:45 AM
Wow. That's a lot of Varner hate there. I'm not sure what about the knee could have caused vision loss but I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt until I hear otherwise. As for him having gassed, were we watching the same fight? He was no more tired that Cerrone and he was winning the fight (in my opinion) up until that point. It was a damn good scrap and I'm looking forward to the rematch. They both deserve another chance to show what they can do.
Posted By: ?! (Guest) on January 26, 2009 at 07:14 AM
He also said he broke his hand in the second round. Really I thought he was faking it as the knee just scrapped him. Cerrone was winning the round and was looking for the tko. He seemed to get his second wind in the forth and Varner was gassed. Telling the fans to go ahead a fuckin boo him just prooves that he was faking. What a joke!
Posted By: SYC (Guest) on January 26, 2009 at 10:20 AM
If I'm sure of only one thing its that varner was gassed. He had bother cerrone's eyes shut by the fourth round and he still kept backing up. At first I thought he was trying not to do serious damage. My guess was that he thought the match would get stopped. Then they came out for another round and varner still wasn't striking. If you don't think he was gassed, then you weren't watching the same fight I was.
Posted By: hobojo (Guest) on January 26, 2009 at 01:01 PM
Glad to see I wasn't the only one that saw the coward(Varner) take the easy way out. After the knee he goes to grab Cerrone legs, but changes his mind and pretends to be hurt.
Posted By: Guest#2380 (Guest) on January 26, 2009 at 03:30 PM
What a punk! Varner knows how to act and that is for sure! Recall that fight with Razor Rob when he lost his mouthpiece and called a timeout? Just like Varner to call it again! They should hold the money back until the rematch!
Posted By: Guest#7298 (Guest) on January 26, 2009 at 04:25 PM
yeah it looked like to me that varner started to get up but fell, slipped or something. idk. there for it should not be elegal. and he should not be champion. and no hes not better than that. if he was the fight wouldnt have went to the 5th round..
Posted By: drew101 (Guest) on January 27, 2009 at 12:00 AM
The knee didnt hit him, he said it did because he broke his hand in round two and was getting beat by Don's stand up.. He took the unhonorable way out, I hope there next match Don destroys Varner
Posted By: reveal (Guest) on January 29, 2009 at 10:12 AM
