My side of the story; Jamie Varner

The WEC Lightweight Champion Jamie Varner (16-2 MMA, 4-0 WEC) stopped by Pro MMA Radio on Monday evening to talk to Larry Pepe about his controversial victory last night over Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone (9-1 MMA, 3-1 WEC) and the fan outcry that has followed.

In his first interview following the fight Varner was clearly heated but felt it important to share his side of the story, to explain why he apologized, and to clarify exactly what went down.

Jamie Varner and Donald Cerrone fought four hard rounds Sunday night for the WEC Lightweight Title. The fifth round began just as exciting as the previous four and then it happened, Cerrone threw a knee to a downed Jamie Varner. The referee stepped in, stopped the fight, and brought in the doctor. Varner could not see therefore, could not continue and ends up winning a split decision in one of the most controversial endings in recent memory.

While it seems pretty cut and dry that Varner dominated most of the shortened five round war, many fans “booed” Varner for not finishing out the fifth round. Varner apologized over and over after the fight to the WEC and to Donald Cerrone because they deserved to finish that fight, “It was a good battle but I definitely did not want it to end like that man. I didn’t fight five rounds or four hard rounds and go into the fifth round wanting a way out and a lot of people on the underground have been bashing me saying I wanted a way out of there.

I was winning the fight, I was controlling the fight. I broke my hand, I broke my foot, and I didn’t go through all that just to give up in the fifth round, so I just wanted to clear the air of all that. I didn’t stop the fight, the doctor stopped the fight. They were worried about my retina being torn or retina damage, my eye was not responding to the flashlight, so that’s ultimately why they stopped the fight…,” Varner said.

When asked about the hit that put him to the ground Varner had this to say, “I got nailed in the side of the head bro so I was a little rocked down there but it was the fact I couldn’t see.”

It is obvious that Varner is less then pleased with the reception he has gotten from the WEC fan base. He believes that he obviously earned the victory and the fact a judge had him losing the fight was ridiculous, “I thought I earned that victory, he was the one who did the illegal knee on the ground. It wasn’t my fault ya know, I fought my ass off for four hard, five hard rounds ya know, it wasn’t my fault. I did everything I said I was going to do…,” Varner said.

Varner believes that Cerrone never really threw anything that could hurt him and he was just trying to out-point Varner to earn himself the decision victory.

Varner said he is ready to fight Cerrone again as soon as all his injuries heal. However, as he understands it, Cerrone would like to get at least one more fight in before there is any type of rematch. In the end Varner had this simple statement, “Fans to boo me after what I did last night is bullshit,” Varner said. The decision may be a subject of controversy, but something that no one will be arguing about is seeing these to go at it one more time. Some had even said the fight could have been a “fight of the year” candidate if it wasn’t stopped early.

To hear this entire interview and all of their free archives go to Pro MMA Radio at www.prommaradio.com. Pro MMA Radio with host Larry Pepe airs every Monday evening at 6pm PT / 9pm ET.

by:Tim Thompson