Searching for Jamie Varner.

When announcing the fight at UFC 129 between Lyoto Machida and Randy Couture,  Dana White described the situation for the Brazilian who's lost 2 consecutive fights as a "must win".  While the reaction from fans ranged from shock to just the whole "he's trying to hype up the fight" response, if you think about it,  a release for Machida might not be all that surprising.

In January 2009, Jamie Varner was the World Extreme Cagefighting Lightweight Champion.  A subsequent defense against Donald Cerrone was highly competitive going into the 5th and final round, but an illegal knee by Cerrone in the 5th round changed things.  While the referee allowed Varner a mandatory 5 minutes to recover before continuing, Varner claimed that he sustained "double vision" due to the illegal knee, calling a stop to the fight and allowing him to retain his title.  While Varner claimed a broken hand factored in his decision, more than a few fans were claiming the Phoenix, Arizona native was feigning injuries and handing out excuses, elevating him from relative obscurity to "villian" status.

You know the rest : The emergence of fighters like Ben Henderson and Anthony Pettis changed the landscape of the WEC's division, allowing more depth and bringing more fighters to front.  While Varner sat on the shelf continuing a laundry list of excuses why he couldn't return,  Henderson fought Cerrone in a fight that some people regard as a defining moment of the WEC for an Interim Belt.  When Varner finally did return, He would ultimately meet defeat at the hands of "Smooth",  with Henderson going on to defend the title against Cerrone before losing to the aforementioned Pettis.
Varner meanwhile, would draw against Iranian wrestler Kamal Shalrous in Edmonton, then lose consecutive fights to Cerrone and Shane Roller.  When the WEC folded into the UFC, Varner was among the fighters lost in the shuffle, and Zuffa dropped him from the promotion, after being the champion 2 years prior.

I mention this because, while Googling Varner's name today, I found an article dated 2 weeks ago on MMA Fanhouse that announced the return of Jamie Varner.  I was surprised to find that the guy he'll be fighting is 35-17-1 with a highlight of fighting at a Bushido in 2006, and it was going to be held in a 11,000 seat arena outside of Chicago on May 13th.

That's right people, after winning a major lightweight title and being arguably the best 155'er outside of the UFC in 2009, Varner is going to climb his way back up, taking the Jens Pulver route.

Its shocking that Varner has dropped this far.  It completely caught me off guard that Bjorn Rebney wouldn't take a run at him and throw him in his 155 lb. tournament for this (or maybe next season) of Bellator a la Ben Saunders, but it appears Varner is content to at least give it a try.  Whether he decides to bring it all together and return to the form that brought him 16 wins in his first 18 fights however, remains to be seen.

I guess we'll find out May 13th.

Until next time, fight fans.