Sunday night’s WEC event features a current champion, an interim title-holder and two former belt-holders.
And they’ve all got something to prove.
In the main event of WEC 46: Varner vs. Henderson at the Arco Arena in Sacramento, Calif., both the champion Jamie Varner and the challenger, if you will, Ben Henderson, meet to unify the lightweight title. Both are in this position courtesy of wins against Donald (Cowboy) Cerrone, though not without some controversy.
For Varner, it will be two weeks short of a year since he last fought. And his win over Cerrone was hardly a straightforward one. The fight was stopped with 1:50 to go in the fifth round when Cerrone hit Varner with an illegal knee. The doctors decided Varner, who had broken his hand and his foot in the bout, could not continue as a result of the unintentional foul. But officials decided to take it to the judges for a decision. Two scored it 49-46 for Varner, while one 48-47 for Cerrone, earning the champion a split decision.
Having to sit out for so long with injuries, and listen to people wondering if he deserved that win, was tough for Varner. So he is eager for Sunday night.
“I’ve got to prove myself to everybody because of the controversial ending on my last fight,” Varner said on a conference call last week. “I have to show everybody why I’m the world champion you know. And I have to kind of remind people who the real Jamie Varner is. So I’m really looking forward to getting back in there and showing everybody the real reason why I’m the WEC lightweight champion.”
Most recently, Henderson earned a unanimous decision over Cerrone in October — all three judges scored it 48-47 in the bout to determine the interim champion while Varner remained on the sidelines — but public opinion was nowhere near unanimous. Many fans and media felt Cerrone won the fight and FightMetric.com, which provides detailed numerical analysis of bouts based on accuracy and performance, also gave the nod to Cerrone (though by the 10-point must scoring system, it awarded a 48-48 draw).
That of course doesn’t matter. Henderson got the official win — in fact, Cerrone himself said he thought his opponent “definitely” won the fight — and it seems inevitable the two will have a rematch. But for now, Henderson would love to beat Varner and legitimize his position.
Varner understands where he’s at.
“There’s pressure on both of us,” Varner added. “I mean Ben’s got to prove that he’s the man, he’s deserving. He’s got to show that that fight and that his belt isn’t just a paperweight. That he actually deserves it, (that) he earned it.
“I feel like Ben’s in a tough spot and I’m in a tough spot. We’ve both got a lot to lose, but both of us have a lot to gain as well.”
Asked whether he felt disrespected that the WEC decided to create the interim title rather than simply wait for him, Varner tried to be politically correct.
“I’ve got to be real careful with my words. I’ve been yelled at a lot lately,” Varner said. “Ben Henderson had an amazing fight with Cowboy. And you know what how I look at it is as he they both deserve belts for that fight. That fight was seriously one of the best fights I’ve ever seen.
“But I didn’t really think it was necessary because they knew I was going to be able to come back. … Realistically they could have made that the No. 1 contender fight and not had a belt, but you know what I think Ben deserves a belt. He deserves something for that fight.
“It adds a little bit more drama and it’s pretty cool. You know we’ve got all of the hype going because we’re unifying the belts. So I don’t mind it.”
Henderson doesn’t put much weight in the fact that he’s got an interim belt, which before Sunday was hanging up in his gym. In fact, he said for the first week after he won it, he didn’t even know where it was — a friend had borrowed it after his welcome-home party.
“I have an interim belt, but we both know, Jamie has the belt,” Henderson said. “He has it. I want to go get it. We both understand that. We both know like among ourselves we know what the real deal is.”
Varner admits to being “nervous as all hell” for this one, but he says he gets nervous before each and every fight.
“When I get scared, I get nervous, it makes me sharp,” Varner said. “It heightens my senses. And I always perform under the lights.
“With fighting you only get one chance. … A great baseball player is 30 per cent. … Unfortunately, we don’t have that luxury. If you’re a … 30 per cent fighter, you’re fighting in local promotions. You’re not making money supporting a family you know.”
The co-main event Sunday will feature former longtime featherweight title-holder Urijah Faber in a similar position as Varner. Faber hasn’t fought in over six months after breaking his hands in his last fight. Unfortunately for him, it was a uninamous-decision loss in a rematch against the man who took away his belt, then-champion Mike Brown.
Faber takes on rising star Raphael Assuncao in a bout that could very well determine the next No. 1 contender to the featherweight title.
That title is currently held by Jose Aldo, thanks to his huge win over Brown in November. Brown, who had a long winning streak stopped when he was picked apart by Aldo in a second-round TKO defeat, will try to show that was a fluke as he faces Anthony Morrison Sunday.
NOTES: All fighters made weight for the event. Varner was on the number at 155 pounds, Henderson 154.5. Meanwhile Faber hit the scale at 145.5 for his non-title featherweight bout and his opponent Assuncao weighed 146, as did both Brown and Morrison.
