Jamie Varner and Urijah Faber Expected to Return at WEC 45 in December
WEC lightweight title-holder Jamie Varner and former featherweight champ Urijah Faber are both expected to return to action by year’s end, according to WEC general manager Reed Harris, who discussed the returns during a recent appearance on MMAjunkie Radio.
Varner, who’s been sidelined with a broken hand suffered in a January victory over Donald Cerrone, is expected to return in December to headline WEC 45 and unify his title with the winner of Saturday’s interim championship matchup between Cerrone and Ben Henderson at WEC 43.
“Jamie Varner has been cleared but needs to come back and fight,” said Harris. “If Jamie doesn’t come back and fight, then whoever holds [the interim] belt will become (the champion). We’ll unify the belts. Jamie says he’s coming back. We’re hoping to do that by the end of the year. So whoever wins this fight then in turn will fight Jamie.”
Faber, who broke his hand in a June loss to 145-pound champion Mike Brown, is also likely to return on the December card against an opponent to-be-announced after recently signing a new multi-fight deal with the promotion following weeks of negotiation.
“I can’t wait to get him back in there. He can’t wait,” said Harris. “He’s training now. I think we’ll see him back in by the end of the year.”
The Versus-televised event does not yet have a set date or location.
Stay tuned to MMAFrenzy.com for the latest WEC news and WEC rumors.
Pictured: Jamie Varner
Tags: Jamie Varner, Urijah Faber
Loading ...
i would love to see faber-aldo. i know brown-aldo is in november, so likely a fight between faber-aldo would be in feb, maybe march. i wonder who they have lined up for him good to see faber back.
i dont really care much for varner, but if he does indeed get the cerrone-henderson winner for his first fight back, it will be very tough for him imo.
I can’t wait for Faber to return, i think the dude still has the stuff to make one more run at Mike Brown and this time if he does get another fight with Brown i think he’ll pull it off. Mike Brown is a super tough and durable fighter, the dude is the undisputed champ at 145 but i think that Faber would have beat him if he hadn’t injured himself because although injured Brown still couldn’t finish Faber and truth be told, Brwon is a stud but Faber IMO is a more well rounded fighter but anyway can’t wait for Faber to come back and hopefully someday join the 155 division in the UFC.
I know Jamie Varner is not a big fan favorite but i like the dude, i enjoy his fights and think that he is underrated all around. I don’t see him holding on at the top spot for too long being that he has a few super tough challengers knocking at his door, i think that Henderson is going to beat Cerrone and then beat Varner, that’s just what i think, Varner is going to have a crap load of ring rust and against a guy like Henderson you need to be at 100% IMO.
no offense to either of these two but faber clearly isn’t going to beat brown and varner isn’t even top 15, in my opinion
I really like Mike Thomas Brown, as a fighter he has skills and does his job very well.. He has beaten Faber twice (for me no excuses made) and is set to take on the very dangerous striker & grappler in Jose Aldo (Junior) and that will be a helll of a fight..
That being said, Urijah deserves alot of credit for bringing the WEC into the popular state that it is in rightnow, I do think that Faber can beat MTB yet hasn’t been successful in two attempts. The man deserves to “get paid” and if he can regain the title well then perhaps we will see the start of a very entertaining best out of 5 series with MTB who knows…
Faber v Aldo would be crazy BigChris
Varner, well lets put it this way, IF Donald “Rice” Cerrone (aka COOOWWWWWbOOYYYYY) wins the interim, I think Varner “re injures” his hand or whatever, that first fight between the two is well questionable at the least, and I do think that perhaps Varner doesn’t see Cerrone anytime soon… But good that he got to resign as well..
dammit fr, dont be taking credit for my nickname i started on here for cerrone, i started the “rice” cerrone, and i trademarked it to the point that if it is used, you have to give me a shout out.
i would love to see faber-aldo regardless if its for a title or not. jchol also has a good idea with faber-torres, but after faber-aldo please. i dont want to wait for that one any longer, and i will buy tickets to see faber-aldo.
I never stated that I “created” that nickname… and Silentkit or whatever was the first person I could find that stated “rice” Cerrone here on the FrenZy, well that I could find anyhow…
I’m stoked for both of these fighters to return to the WEC. Faber is an awesome fighter and I think he will still be a top contender. Jamie Varner is one of the best fighters out there right now and I think Cerrone gave him a wake up call and he is training harder than ever. Sometimes the fame gets to EVERYBODY’s head and someone has to put you in check…Watch out for his return!
Dude i’d like to see faber against brown again. i know he’s lost to him twice but it’s hard to really say that faber “lost” to brown in that second match because he was winning before he broke his hand and who knows, the way he was fighting he could have probably finished brown.
Either way, brown’s the man and i look forward to seeing “the california kid” again.
Harris said the WEC doesn’t like to do immediate rematches and that they’ll ease Faber back in and give him another crack at the title if he wins a couple.
Maybe now is the time for that WEC superfight between Urijah Faber and Miguel Torres?
merge with the UFC already.