Jamie Varner on The Road Back

By Thomas Gerbasi

The messages on Jamie Varner’s Twitter and Facebook accounts come frequently enough that they’re pretty noticeable:

*I'm here Tucson mall going to Dillard's now first person that says hi get a free affliction shirt on me!

*On my way to the planet hollywood pool come join me for drinks and some serious people watching!!!!

*Time to eat! Guess where I'm headed? Show up and get lunch on me!

*Going to ZUMA be there in 20 if anyone cares to join I'm so hungry!

You don’t see too many professional athletes, let alone former world champions, promote this type of accessibility or connection with their fans. And that’s just who the former WEC lightweight boss is.

Yet ever since a controversial technical decision win over Donald Cerrone in January of 2009, Varner has become Public Enemy Number One in the eyes of a segment of the mixed martial arts community, one that chooses to boo the mention of his name and take shots at him on internet message boards. What may make it even worse is that Varner doesn’t hide the fact that it bothers him, only fueling the fire of his detractors.

“It sucks, but unfortunately I’m not as accessible to the millions of fans around the world like I am to you guys (the media), so they only get to see me at my highest of highs or lowest of lows, and that’s for about 15 seconds when I get the microphone,” he said. “A fight is a rollercoaster ride of ups and downs and my last couple have been swooping downs, so I’m hoping to make a change with this fight and maybe win some of those fans back.”

Varner returns to the cage this Sunday in Edmonton, headlining the WEC’s first foray into Canada against Kamal Shalorus. The 25-year old Arizona native is the perfect ambassador for the organization, considering that he always comes to fight, as evidenced by his big wins over Sherron Leggett, Rob McCullough, and Marcus Hicks.

But it was the Cerrone fight which remains the puzzle. Fighting well for the majority of the championship match, Varner was in control against the talented Cerrone. But as the rounds wore on, Cerrone got stronger, apparently breaking Varner down physically. Eventually, it was revealed the Varner broke his hand and foot in the fight, and when an illegal knee started to play tricks with his vision, the cageside physician halted the bout and sent it to the scorecards, where Varner scored the split decision win. Immediately, boo birds filled the San Diego Sports Arena, and Varner was painted as the villain.

Since then, he’s tried to explain himself to anyone who would listen, and his explanation does make plenty of sense.

“When I get that microphone, I’m a very emotional person, and my last couple fights haven’t gone the way I would have liked them to have,” said Varner, who subsequently lost his belt to Ben Henderson in January. “And we only get one shot. I’m going and doing all this stuff, training hard, three times a day, five days a week, and getting my butt kicked by my sparring partners and you put all this effort into one moment, one chance. If you think about baseball, a great baseball player is only successful 30 percent of the time. If I was only 30 percent, I’d be out of a job. You can’t be 30 percent and be in this sport and be great. And there isn’t a five game series or seven game series; it isn’t like okay Ben, you caught me that time, let’s do it again. So I have to lay it on the line and I have to be perfect, and when I’m not, it’s very emotionally draining for me and sometimes it’s really hard for me to control my emotions.”

Despite taking place over five months ago, the loss to Henderson is still a sore spot with Varner, who was submitted via guillotine choke in the third round.

“I made one mistake in that fight,” he said. “I shot a bad shot and I got caught in a guillotine. Granted, that’s Ben’s very best move and that’s what he finishes most of his fights with, but I felt like I was winning the fight in every area up until that one point and Ben was champion enough to catch me.”

And while he’s not making any excuses for the defeat, only his third as a pro (against 16 wins and two no contests), when you ask him about his mindset entering this week’s bout against Shalorus, you get a little insight into his mental state before the Henderson fight as well, and it gives you the sense that the bout may have been lost in the locker room.

“I’m just really focusing on this fight and I can’t tell you I’m a hundred percent confident,” he said. “I’m scared, man, I don’t want to lose again. I’m 25 years old and I train really hard, I lay it all on the line, and I’m just like everybody else – I have good days, I have bad days, and I’m not a machine. I do get scared, I do get nervous, and every time I’ve ever fought I’ve been nervous, minus that Ben fight. And the fact that I’m nervous going into this fight, I can only hope and expect for good things to come from this.”

You don’t expect to hear a world-class fighter like Varner to have feelings like that – wait, let me rephrase that – you don’t expect a fighter to talk about having feelings like that, but again, this is Varner being open with his thoughts, something that has gotten him in trouble in the past. This time though, he’s embracing those feelings, knowing that they’ve led him to big wins before.

“For me,” he said, “the nerves keep me sharp.”

And he’ll need to be on point against Shalorus, a fighter Varner accurately describes as “the toughest guy you never heard of.” But with two WEC wins over Will Kerr (TKO1) and Dave Jansen (W3) already, hardcore fight fans know who he is, and the rest of the world will know him as well should he defeat the former 155-pound champ on Sunday. More importantly, Varner and the WEC know who Shalorus is.

“I’m lucky enough that everybody in my organization knows how tough Kamal Shalorus is,” said Varner. “They know his credentials, they know what he’s bringing to the table, and I’m looking at this fight as a number one contender fight. I’m fighting a guy who’s legitimized himself by beating a guy like Dave Jansen, he’s 2-0 in the WEC and beating me would solidify his shot as the number one contender. So I think me beating a guy like Kamal Shalorus, with the organization knowing how tough he is, puts me right back there in title contention. So this fight with him is the most important fight of my life. I’m not overlooking him and my eyes aren’t set on the belt; my eyes are set on Kamal Shalorus.”

Jamie Varner is honest to a fault though, so in the end, he can’t help but let slip that he has thought about his future after Sunday night, a rematch with Henderson, and redeeming himself by wearing a championship belt once again.

“I only miss that I was the man here in Arizona, in my hometown,” he said. “I hate the fact that I let people down, and that I’m no longer the champion and that Ben has it in my hometown.”

Hey, it’s Varner being Varner, and there’s nothing wrong with that.