Varner-Roller Bolsters WEC 53

Former World Extreme Cagefighting lightweight champion Jamie Varner will take on Shane Roller in a featured clash at WEC 53 “Henderson vs. Pettis” on Dec. 16 at the Jobing.com Arena in Glendale, Ariz. Sources close to the fighters confirmed to Sherdog.com that the fight has been verbally agreed to. However, bout agreements have not been signed.

MMAValor.com was first to report the matchup.

Varner won the organization’s 155-pound title when he knocked out “Razor” Rob McCullough at WEC 32 in 2008. With the championship around his waist, Varner defended the belt successfully later that year when he defeated Marcus Hicks by technical knockout at WEC 35. He rang in 2009 by earning a contentious technical decision victory over Donald Cerrone in January. With the fight close in the fifth round, Cerrone landed an accidental illegal knee to Varner’s skull, preventing him from finishing the fight. The scorecards pointed Varner’s way that night, but the score was not quite settled. After losing the title to current champ Benson Henderson at WEC 46 in January, the Arizona Combat Sports product fought Kamal Shalorus to a split draw at WEC 49. Cerrone was finally awarded his rematch with Varner at WEC 51 in September. Cerrone used improved wrestling skills to turn back the Arizonan and level the score at one fight apiece.

A three-time All-American wrestler at Oklahoma State University, Roller is a veteran of eight fights within the WEC cage. After being knocked out by Henderson at WEC 40 in 2009, Roller ran off three straight victories, including a “Submission of the Night” win over Danny Castillo, before running into Anthony Pettis at WEC 50 in August. An exhausted Roller succumbed to a Pettis triangle choke with just seconds remaining in the contest.

It was suggested that perhaps a rubber match was in the works between Varner and Cerrone for the December event. The two will, however, appear together on the WEC 53 lineup, as Cerrone has been slated to take on International Fight League veteran Chris Horodecki. In the main event, Henderson will defend his lightweight strap against Pettis.

WEC 53 “Henderson vs. Pettis”
Thursday, Dec. 16
Jobing.com Arena
Glendale, Ariz.

WEC Lightweight Championship
Benson Henderson vs. Anthony Pettis

WEC Bantamweight Championship
Dominick Cruz vs. Scott Jorgensen

Donald Cerrone vs. Chris Horodecki
Jamie Varner vs. Shane Roller
Bart Palaszewski vs. Kamal Shalorus
Tie Quan Zhang vs. Daniel Downes

Joseph Myers contributed to this report.