WEC 38 announced for San Diego Sports Arena to feature Varner vs. Cerrone and more Jan. 25
By: MMAmania
World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC) will kickoff its 2009 fight season by invading San Diego, Calif., for the first time ever at the San Diego Sports Arena on January 25.
WEC Lightweight Championship Jamie Varner will defend his 155-pound title against undefeated Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone in a main event that is sure to spark major fireworks. And promotion poster boy, former featherweight champion and hometown hero Urijah Faber will co-headline the show in a rematch against Jens Pulver.
Cerrone earned his opportunity at championship glory with a fantastic unanimous decision win over former division champion, “Razor” Rob McCullough, just last month. It was an absolute back-and-forth slugfest that has been mentioned as a “Fight of the Year” candidate.
“Cowboy” — a member of Team Greg Jackson — has an undefeated record of (9-0) thus far in his career, having won all three fights under the WEC banner. The decision win over McCullough was the first time in his career he had been taken past the second round.
Varner has been on a tear since making the transition from the UFC to the WEC, winning four consecutive bouts and finishing all of his opponents. Perhaps most impressive were his most recent stoppages of Marcus Hicks back in August and McCullough earlier this year.
“The Worm” will look to keep the hot streak alive in Southern California and hand Cerrone the first loss of his professional mixed martial arts career.
In the co main event, “The California Kid” (21-2) will once again challenge former UFC lightweight champion Jens Pulver – the pair first met in an action-packed five round scrap at WEC 34 back in June.
Faber came away with a clear unanimous decision in what is to date the most successful event ever for the promotion. Perhaps the WEC is hoping that lightning will strike twice the second time around even though “Lil Evil” has fallen on tough times of late.
In fact, the long-time Miletich Fighting Systems (MFS)-trained fighter — who recently switched camps — has dropped four of his last five fights. The soon-to-be 34-year-old veteran was most recently stopped early by Garcia in their showdown at WEC 36: “Faber vs. Brown” earlier this month.
It’s safe to say that this is a huge opportunity for Pulver to turn things around … fast. The only problem, however, is that he has to do it against a fighter who is widely regarded as among the top pound-for-pound fighters in the world today.
Faber held the WEC 145-pound title for two and a half years before getting caught by a well-placed, fight-ending right hand courtesy of the powerful Mike Brown in the first round of the WEC 36 main event three weeks ago.
The loss was only the second of his career and the first since getting stopped in the third round by Tyson Griffin at Gladiator Challenge 42: “Summer Slam” in September of 2005.
WEC 38 will air live on fight night (Sunday) at 9:30 p.m. ET on the Versus network. Stay tuned to MMAmania.com for more fight card updates.
26 Comments »
Who’s fighting Brown next, Garcia? If Faber wins will he get to fight for the belt again? I would think so, he had it, defended it many times,is widely considered a top 10 p4p and I think its good for the WEC to have him their champ.
If Urijah is going to fight Jens, then Leanord Garcia better get the next crack at Mike Brown’s title. I thought the UFC was going to match up Urtijah vs. Garcia, since they aren’t it better be cause Garcia is getting a title shotr, If not I will be pissed!
BTW, Varner wont beat the Cowboy!
I hope not, cause I really don’t like Varner. No particular reason, I think it may have started with an after fight celebration (can’t remember who he fought) where he did the worm and some gay lookin chicken dance.
I was hoping they would have Aldo vs Urijah but they give us this garbage. Garcia and jackson camp are set on facing Brown from every interview i’ve seen/read. So am pretty sure they will get it.
yeah Cerrone is taking this one… much more disciplined, talented fighter
I’m not sure I care to see Faber vs Pulver again… Pulver is looking slow and old his last 2 fights. Why give him 3 straight losses? Garcia vs Brown wil be good though, Brown is HUGE!!!
They are totally throwing Pulver to the wolves here. Pulvers on the decline and fighting Fabers only going to speed that up. I thought they would have given him a can, getting him back to winning ways, but I guess not. Gotta respect Jens for being willing to fight Faber again.
haha you guys are crazy. varner is gonna smash the cowboy, seriously.
OFF TOPIC BUT….Is MacDonald/Goveia the main event for the TUF finale????
I sure hope not, that would be even worse than Grove vs Tanner main event!
Thats a good question. Why have they said nothing more on the fights for the ultimate finale. two fights is all they have anounced. I hope they add somthing good, cause its shaping up to be pretty weak so far
I think this may be the last time we see pulver, cause theres no way he’s beating faber and he’s lost 4 of his last 5 fights. They should have given him someone he could have beaten instead throwing him to the wolves, and it sucks cause im a big pulver fan.
I don’t think it will be the last time we see Pulver, but I don’t think this was the best match up, maybe a rematch with Cub Swanson instead of a rematch with Faber. I wouldn’t be surprised if Jens managed to pull this out either, now he knows about the hand speed of Urijah and he can make adjustments accordingly. I actually thought Jens got the better of the grappling last time they fought, maybe he’ll impliment a different game plan. Can only hope, I’m a Pulver fan as well so would love to see him pull out a win.
what camp did jens switch to?
I think he is with Matt Hume. AMC Pankration
I think you may be right about Jens. We’ve all seen how the fighers kinda of decay after a certain point (shamrock, ortiz, lidell, ect..). Jens may be at that point. Faber should finish it this time. Garcia IS getting a title shot. I’m not sure when. I heard sometime early 09. He’ll stomp Brown i think.
Cerrone is with Jackson? Get ready for some nipple twisting action.
this is a bad fight for WEC, for one Faber already destroyed pulver and i really don’t think he proves anything by beating him again, all it does is crush pulvers draw a little more, and if pulver wins it will just make faber less of a draw and that is the last thing they need, aren’t they trying to go PPV in early ‘09? i would rather see both those fighters come off wins and be on the main card,
I think if Jens wins and he can manage to capture the belt then it sets up the rubber match (which would be excellent if they are 1-1 against eachother). I think Pulver still has a few good years left in him, he got caught by Garcia but looked decent against Faber when they fought. If Urijiah wins it’s definatly not a step back so he can at least go after the belt again.
The first match was a real exciting fight, imo the main problem with this rematch is that its just too soon. They shoulda let Pulver rematch Swanson and had Faber fight Garcia for #1 contender; if Faber loses than he fights Jens and Garcia fights Brown, if he wins he fights Brown and Pulver gets the loser of Faber vs Brown for #1 contender.
so if faber beats pulver he gets a title shot? doesn’t make sense if you beat a guy who is 1-4 in his last 5 fights i don’t say that puts you back in title contention. same goes for pulver. why does a one win streak earn u a title shot??? they should fight up and comers help the organization build a name for itself instead of watching the same 4 guys fight all the time
I didn’t say I agreed with Faber beating Pulver for a title shot, I suggested that they have Faber fight Garcia for #1 contender and Pulver fight Swanson or another up and comer like you suggested is fine. I never said winning 1 fight earns you a title shot; you’ve misread the entire post. And I don’t disagree, it’s not a bad idea to show case your up and coming talent, but the fighters also have to do their part and have a good showing. Until people start to give them recognition their names aren’t going to sell tickets. If you put Jens Pulver/Urijiah Faber vs Nobody who’s going to be interested?
agreed, i would almost like to see faber move up to 155, and have the UFC lend some talent for him to fight, maybe like sean sherk, big task but right now i think it would almost make sence, or evan a tyson griffen, i would really like to see faber get tested and see if he is as good as everyone thinks he is. i for one think that he would do well
Faber is awesome. He got caught by brown because he tried some stupid move. It got to his head, all the publicity. Dude when brown took him down, he bounced up like a freakin spring and that alone was amazing and i have never seen that. Faber is awesome. Pulver is also awesome and so is my trainer Torres. Those are the 3 people i like out of the WEC. Varner and Ceronne are ok as well but i dont care about them or their fights..
I really hope Jose Aldo is on this card…….the reality is that the faber fight is meaningless and they did faber a favor by giving him an easy bailiout…….Jose aldo has quickly become one of the most dangerous fighters i’ve seen period. He has Anderson silva type of movements…….
Hicks and Razor Rob are on this too I believe.
Pulver is not a bailout fight for faber. Are you kiding me..