World Extreme Cagefighting 51: Cerrone vs. Varner recap
The Donald Cerrone vs. Jamie Varner fight at World Extreme Cagefighting 51 in Broomfield Colorado was one that many fans had been looking forward to. Coming into the rematch, the two fighters
had developed a clear dislike for each other and had not been shy in expressing those feelings.
The two had been sniping at each other since their first bout at WEC 38 in January 2009 ended with a controversial victory for the then lightweight champion Varner. Cerrone was called
for an illegal knee to Varner's head. Varner was deemed unable to continue, and per WEC rules, the fight went to the scorecards. Varner was ahead on two of three scorecards and was awarded the split decision.
Since that time the trash talk between the two has been pretty consistent. Recently that pot boiled over and Cerrone came under fire for his pre-fight comments when he said, “I hope my
emotions take over and I just kill this dude (Varner). I hope this is the first death in MMA.”
Cerrone came out and hurt Varner right away with a big knee. Varner, the former WEC lightweight champion, went on the run after that and he eventually recovered. A composed Cerrone pushed
the action throughout the first round as Varner seemed unsure and continuously back-pedalled. At the end of the first Varner attempted to touch gloves with Cerrone who wanted no part of that and instead gave him a middle finger salute that was returned in
kind by Varner.
Round two started out a little slower with the fighters measuring each other much more than in the first round. Cerrone again got the better of Varner in this round; delivering some good
kicks and punches as well as being the clear aggressor.
The final round showcased a side of Cerrone that Varner truly had no answer for as Cerrone came after him with some takedowns. Varner was the better wrestler of the two, but Cerrone had
never shown any wrestling before and Varner had no response. Cerrone totally dominated the third round and was awarded the unanimous decision in a fight that was entertaining, but never really in doubt for Cerrone.
Immediately after the fight Cerrone offered a rematch to Varner, claiming that he did not want their series to stand at 1-1, he wanted a second victory. The two combatants each received
a $10,000 bonus for “Fight of the Night.”
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