Jamie Varner

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1 Profile
2 Early Career
3 UFC
4 WEC
5 Mixed martial arts record
6 Gallery
7 External links

Profile

Jamie "The Worm" Varner (born October 12, 1984) is an American professional mixed martial artist fighting out of Arizona Combat Sports.

He stands 5 ft. 8 in. (173 cm) tall and fights in the lightweight division (155 lbs.).

Varner is a UFC veteran and is the current lightweight champion for the World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC) organization.

Early Career

Jamie Varner made his professional mixed martial arts debut for the Arizona based, Rage in the Cage promotion on March 27, 2003. He defeated his opponent, Carlos Ortega via unanimous decision after three rounds.

Just over two weeks later, Varner was back in the cage, this time suffering his first professional loss as he was on the losing end of a unanimous decision to Jesse Moreng.

Varner fought three more times in 2003, winning all three bout via submission. His winning streak was deterred by a no contest with James Upshur in April of 2004, but Varner kept on winning taking victory in his next six bouts after that, which included a submission win over future UFC competitor, Kyle Bradley.

After picking up another no contest in July of 2005, this time for the King of the Cage promotion against Tony Llamas, Varner pushed his record to 11-1 (2 NC) with a rear naked choke submission win over Leonard Wilson in January of 2006.

UFC

With the impressive start to his career, Varner earned a contract with the UFC. He was matched up against tough lightweight, Spencer Fisher for his debut at UFC 62. However, an injury to Fisher prompted his removal and he was replaced by WEC lightweight champion, Hermes Franca. In a closely fought bout, Franca came out on top, winning via armbar submission in the third round.

Just over six months later, Varner picked up his first UFC victory when he sent Jason Gilliam to sleep on the undercard of UFC 68 with a rear naked choke. He followed the victory with a post fight celebration that featured Varner falling to sleep while standing up and then once he hit the mat regaining consciousness only to do the worm.

WEC

After the win over Gilliam, Varner was transferred over to the UFC's sister promotion, the WEC. Varner made his WEC debut at WEC 29 defeating Sherron Leggett via TKO (punches and elbows) at 4:08 of round 1.

The win was all he needed to earn a shot at the WEC lightweight title held by "Razor" Rob McCullough. Varner faced McCullough at WEC 32 and controlled the opening rounds with his superior wrestling. In the third round, Varner was sent to the mat via a vicious punch from McCullough that sent his mouthpiece flying. When the fight returned to the feet, a still dazed Varner called for a timeout so that he could find his mouthpiece, the referee controversially obliged and the fight was stalled for a few moments. Upon resumption, a rejuvenated Varner pounced on McCullough and knocked him out with punches at the 2:54 mark of round 3 to become the new WEC lightweight champion.

In the first defense of his title, Varner faced the undefeated Marcus Hicks at WEC 35 in August of 2008. Varner impressed as he dismantled Hicks with punches, dropping him frequently before finally finishing him off at the 2:08 mark of round 1.

In January of 2009, Varner faced the undefeated Donald Cerrone in the main event of WEC 38. The bout was as controversial as it was exciting as both fighters traded positions on the ground and punches on the feet furiously for the first four rounds. In the fifth round an illegal knee from Cerrone to the grounded Varner grazed the champion's eye. Varner was unable to continue and the fight was halted at the 1:38 mark. Due to the unintentional blow the fight went to the judges for a decision. The judges returned scores of 49-46, 47-48, 49-46 to award Varner the technical split decision victory and the second defense of his title.