(F*ckin’ boo him.)
WEC lightweight champ Jamie Varner may have won a grueling title defense against Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone on Sunday — but between his injuries, the fan reaction, and his bank account, he isn’t exactly feeling like a winner right now. During an appearance on Sherdog’s "Beatdown" radio show yesterday, Varner rattled off the laundry list of ouchies that he left the cage with last weekend:
"I broke my right index metacarpal, completely fractured. So I have to get pins put in it tomorrow (Thursday). Then I go next week to see my eye doctor to make sure my retina isn’t detached. And if it’s detached it could be a career-ending injury…I broke my hand in the first or second round. I don’t know exactly where. I remember one time in the fourth round that I just couldn’t hit him with it. I told my corner that I couldn’t use it anymore…He checked one of my kicks early in the fight and that’s where I fractured my foot. Then I kicked him in the head with it in the fourth and that was it. My foot was completely done. So I walked out for the fifth round with one hand and some takedowns…I knew the fifth round was going to be boring. I couldn’t offer anything really damaging."
During that fifth round, Cerrone was able to score his first takedown of the night, then kneed Varner in the face when the champ was trying to get up. Varner’s knees — just barely — were touching the mat. Referee Josh Rosenthal halted the action and called the illegal blow unintentional, but Varner couldn’t continue, claiming that he couldn’t see. The fight went to the scorecards, and the crowd erupted in boos. Needless to say, the idea that some fans think Varner faked his injury to get out of finishing the last couple minutes of the fight doesn’t sit well with him:
“What hurt me the most was the crowd. They had no idea about the pain or suffering I was going through…No offense to the fans, but they’re a little bit ignorant and they have no idea the pain that I was enduring. For them to think I was looking for a way out — I fought close to 13 minutes with a broken hand and foot and I could’ve easily quit the fight before that. Why would I endure all that pain just to quit? I’m not a quitter. I’m a fighter. I’m a champion and I’m going to try and defend my title to the
death.”
If that’s not bad enough, Varner’s medical bills may cost more than what he made from the fight, and Frank Mir might have a personal vendetta against him. Damn, bro. Some days it’s just not worth getting up in the morning.
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commentsComments like that deserve to be boo'd or criticized, but his performance does not.
Varner is a tough guy and a good fighter, but appears to be a bit stupid.
The fact that he is using every other injury he endured in the bout and barely mentioning the illegal knee shows that he did in fact take the opportunity to get out with his belt while he could.
He had time to recover and the honest thing to do would have been to carry on with the fight and not hamm up the illegal knee and loss of sight. He is undeniably a tough dude and I respect him for that but he used a shady tactic to keep his belt when he could have very likely won a decision if he made it out of the round. Big IF the way it was looking.
Karma will get Varner in the rematch so sleep with that belt every night.
It's pretty obvious that Varner quit because he felt Cerrone turning it up at the end. The momentum was in Cerrone's favor and he may have pulled out a victory. Thus depriving the fans of a "legitimate conclusion" to the fight. You know, the reason they paid to attend the event?
Remember, the doctors didn't stop the fight. Varner quit.
Kinda like Donald Cerrone did.
And I agree with you too dude. I guess all I'm sayin is that I would have done the exact same thing, NO, ......I take that back. I don't even have what it takes to be a professional mixed martial artists so, I would probably have quit after the first injury, but I would bet money that I would be a handful for a lot of people posting here saying he's a bitch for what he did. What does that make them?
I agree that a champion is supposed to fight through the injury of a broken hand, as Varner did. What I was implying was that you would not fight past a broken hand.
And to Anonymous who said, "and then cried...depriving everyone of a legitimate conclusion." Are you trying to say that the conclusion wasn't legitimate? Was Varner supposed to overturn the decision of the judges and capitulate to cerrone?
I only see one coward crying in this thread, anonymous troll.
anyways..i do agree that american fans are a lot more harsh then any other, but if ur gonna be a pro at anything...u gotta learn to just take criticism and move on!
The standards of toughness in MMA have been set already. Jamie Varner didn't live up to them. He acted like a whiny premadonna. The sunglasses were gay. He blatantly quit that fight and then cried about it in the interview, depriving everyone of a legitimate conclusion. He's a whimp and should retire.
Seriously though, imagine how tough he would have sounded if he had of finished the fight like that. And Frank Mir is not a dude I want to have a problem with for any reason.
You quit the fight because you broke your hand (or for any other injury caused by opponent--one way or another) and you lose.
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