Faber, Varner Bouncing Back from Broken Hands
John Chandler Jan 5, 2010
Urijah
Faber and Jamie Varner
both hope to shake off the ring rust after recovering from
respective hand injuries heading into their co-headlining bouts at
WEC 46 “Varner vs. Henderson” this Sunday at the Arco Arena in
Sacramento, Calif.
Varner’s road to recovery has been well-documented. The reigning WEC lightweight champion suffered a broken foot, a broken hand, and a near career-ending eye injury in his last bout, a successful title defense against rival Donald Cerrone last January. Lingering problems with his right hand kept Varner on the sidelines until now.
“The healing went well after the first surgery but things got
messed up because of my negligence,” Varner said during a Wednesday
teleconference. “I have really bad ADHD so I can’t really sit
around. The bone didn’t heal correctly and I had to go in for a
second surgery in April. They had to re-break it and place pins in
it. Everything is 100% now though. I’m nervous as all hell to see
how it’s going to hold up but I’m excited to see the outcome. I
feel like I need to remind the fans what Jamie Varner
is all about.”
While a rematch with Cerrone is certainly on the horizon, Varner must first focus on a former training partner in Ben Henderson, who grabbed the interim WEC lightweight belt with a unanimous decision over Cerrone in October.
“I remember when I went down to Varner’s camp to help him with Marcus Hicks,” Henderson added. “He wanted to go for a sixth round and I was so tired that I knew I wouldn’t be able to go again. I was like ‘Man, this is a how a champion does things’. I’ve had to pick myself up and improve my game to get where I am now.”
Faber on Assuncao, Aldo
As for Faber, the former WEC featherweight champion returns after two losses to former champion Mike Thomas Brown to face submission specialist Rafael Assuncao in a bout with serious title implications. The winner could easily become the first challenger to newly-crowned champ Jose Aldo later this year.
“I can’t say for sure,” Faber said when asked about a potential title shot. “But I know that I’m ranked third in the world and Rafael is ranked fifth so this would obviously see who will be ranked next. I would hope that I would be able to get the next shot but that’s up to the WEC. I can only hope for the best.”
A showdown with Aldo is one that interests Faber immensely. The Brazilian wunderkind seemingly looks unstoppable at the moment courtesy of six straight highlight reel finishes. Still, Faber believes that he has the style to give Aldo a run for his money.
“From the get-go, I’ve been really impressed with Aldo,” Faber said. “He’s extremely athletic. He’s got really good stand-up and is very creative. He would be a tough fight. As far as matchups go, I think I’ve got the style to beat him. I’m the superior wrestler out of the two of us and I think my submission game is very good.
“I can’t get too excited about possibly fighting him yet though because I’ve got another hard-headed Brazilian [Assuncao] to throw around first.”
Other Notes:
• WEC General Manager Reed Harris echoed Faber’s sentiment on a future title shot: “We’ve definitely had that discussion. Ultimately, it will be up to Sean Shelby [WEC matchmaker] but we’ve had that discussion over the past week. I can’t see why Urijah hasn’t earned that spot. It’s not us trying to give Urijah these kind of fights. He fought Brown for 25 minutes with two broken hands, so how do you not put him in your featured fights?”
• Varner made sure to comment on the continual trash-talking from Cerrone: “Donald has done a good job of bad-mouthing me on every forum that he’s ever had. Ultimately, I think it makes him look bad as an individual because of a lack of class. I’m going to take the high road here and not say much. I know that I’m going to be fighting him next but I can’t take my mind off Ben. In his last fight, [Cerrone] was so focused on me that it affected him. I think Cerrone is an easier fight than Ben but I’d welcome that fight regardless.”
• Faber admitted that he felt he always had a chance to win during the Brown rematch: “It was very frustrating in the Brown matchup because I was handicapped in so many different ways. I know in my heart that I was never really out of that fight. I would have preferred to get unconsciously stomped on in that fight than lose the way that I did. I was still protecting myself and going forward until the end. I always thought I had a chance.”
• Henderson discussed training with UFC lightweight champion B.J. Penn and two-time title challenger Kenny Florian in preparation for Varner: “It was tough with all of the traveling and going back and forth instead of staying at my own camp but it comes with an invaluable amount of experience.”
• Harris stated that ticket sales for the promotion’s third trip to Sacramento were going well as expected. “Tickets sales are going very good,” said Harris. “We should have another full house. Sacramento has been a great market for us. Both the WEC and UFC have had great success there and Sacramento product Urijah Faber is one of our most popular fighters. Our TV ratings are also very, very good in the area. After the Faber-Assuncao fight, we’ll make another decision about returning once again.”
• Varner revealed that he used swimming in order to stay in shape while rehabbing his hand: “I was actually lucky enough to have participated in swimming all throughout high school so I just jumped back into that and started to swim with the Arizona State team. I was walking around at 185 pounds and within two weeks I lost 10 pounds. It helped me gain a lot of my strength back but also helped me prevent a lot of potential injuries. Instead of hitting the bag and doing things with my hands, I was able to swim and stay in shape.”
• Despite originally announcing the addition of a flyweight division to the WEC nearly a year ago, Harris says that the weight class is still in the works. “We’re still working on it. The thing we love to do at the WEC is making sure we have the top guys and we can put on great fights. I’m sure some time this year we’re going to announce that we are forming that and we’ll get things going.”
• Even though he was forced out of action for almost a year, Varner still feels that the creation of an interim title wasn’t needed: “I broke my hand and broke my foot fighting for the organization that I love. It’s one thing like when Frank Mir got into a motorcycle accident and couldn’t fight for years but I was only a couple of months away from coming back. I didn’t really think it was necessary. But it is what it is. It adds a little bit of drama.”
Varner’s road to recovery has been well-documented. The reigning WEC lightweight champion suffered a broken foot, a broken hand, and a near career-ending eye injury in his last bout, a successful title defense against rival Donald Cerrone last January. Lingering problems with his right hand kept Varner on the sidelines until now.
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While a rematch with Cerrone is certainly on the horizon, Varner must first focus on a former training partner in Ben Henderson, who grabbed the interim WEC lightweight belt with a unanimous decision over Cerrone in October.
“I’ve trained with Ben before,” said Varner. “He’s a great fighter.
We both have an idea of what each other are going to do so it’s
going to make for a very interesting matchup.”
“I remember when I went down to Varner’s camp to help him with Marcus Hicks,” Henderson added. “He wanted to go for a sixth round and I was so tired that I knew I wouldn’t be able to go again. I was like ‘Man, this is a how a champion does things’. I’ve had to pick myself up and improve my game to get where I am now.”
Faber on Assuncao, Aldo
As for Faber, the former WEC featherweight champion returns after two losses to former champion Mike Thomas Brown to face submission specialist Rafael Assuncao in a bout with serious title implications. The winner could easily become the first challenger to newly-crowned champ Jose Aldo later this year.
“I can’t say for sure,” Faber said when asked about a potential title shot. “But I know that I’m ranked third in the world and Rafael is ranked fifth so this would obviously see who will be ranked next. I would hope that I would be able to get the next shot but that’s up to the WEC. I can only hope for the best.”
A showdown with Aldo is one that interests Faber immensely. The Brazilian wunderkind seemingly looks unstoppable at the moment courtesy of six straight highlight reel finishes. Still, Faber believes that he has the style to give Aldo a run for his money.
“From the get-go, I’ve been really impressed with Aldo,” Faber said. “He’s extremely athletic. He’s got really good stand-up and is very creative. He would be a tough fight. As far as matchups go, I think I’ve got the style to beat him. I’m the superior wrestler out of the two of us and I think my submission game is very good.
“I can’t get too excited about possibly fighting him yet though because I’ve got another hard-headed Brazilian [Assuncao] to throw around first.”
Other Notes:
• WEC General Manager Reed Harris echoed Faber’s sentiment on a future title shot: “We’ve definitely had that discussion. Ultimately, it will be up to Sean Shelby [WEC matchmaker] but we’ve had that discussion over the past week. I can’t see why Urijah hasn’t earned that spot. It’s not us trying to give Urijah these kind of fights. He fought Brown for 25 minutes with two broken hands, so how do you not put him in your featured fights?”
• Varner made sure to comment on the continual trash-talking from Cerrone: “Donald has done a good job of bad-mouthing me on every forum that he’s ever had. Ultimately, I think it makes him look bad as an individual because of a lack of class. I’m going to take the high road here and not say much. I know that I’m going to be fighting him next but I can’t take my mind off Ben. In his last fight, [Cerrone] was so focused on me that it affected him. I think Cerrone is an easier fight than Ben but I’d welcome that fight regardless.”
• Faber admitted that he felt he always had a chance to win during the Brown rematch: “It was very frustrating in the Brown matchup because I was handicapped in so many different ways. I know in my heart that I was never really out of that fight. I would have preferred to get unconsciously stomped on in that fight than lose the way that I did. I was still protecting myself and going forward until the end. I always thought I had a chance.”
• Henderson discussed training with UFC lightweight champion B.J. Penn and two-time title challenger Kenny Florian in preparation for Varner: “It was tough with all of the traveling and going back and forth instead of staying at my own camp but it comes with an invaluable amount of experience.”
• Harris stated that ticket sales for the promotion’s third trip to Sacramento were going well as expected. “Tickets sales are going very good,” said Harris. “We should have another full house. Sacramento has been a great market for us. Both the WEC and UFC have had great success there and Sacramento product Urijah Faber is one of our most popular fighters. Our TV ratings are also very, very good in the area. After the Faber-Assuncao fight, we’ll make another decision about returning once again.”
• Varner revealed that he used swimming in order to stay in shape while rehabbing his hand: “I was actually lucky enough to have participated in swimming all throughout high school so I just jumped back into that and started to swim with the Arizona State team. I was walking around at 185 pounds and within two weeks I lost 10 pounds. It helped me gain a lot of my strength back but also helped me prevent a lot of potential injuries. Instead of hitting the bag and doing things with my hands, I was able to swim and stay in shape.”
• Despite originally announcing the addition of a flyweight division to the WEC nearly a year ago, Harris says that the weight class is still in the works. “We’re still working on it. The thing we love to do at the WEC is making sure we have the top guys and we can put on great fights. I’m sure some time this year we’re going to announce that we are forming that and we’ll get things going.”
• Even though he was forced out of action for almost a year, Varner still feels that the creation of an interim title wasn’t needed: “I broke my hand and broke my foot fighting for the organization that I love. It’s one thing like when Frank Mir got into a motorcycle accident and couldn’t fight for years but I was only a couple of months away from coming back. I didn’t really think it was necessary. But it is what it is. It adds a little bit of drama.”
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