Roundtable: Our Favourite Memories of Jamie Varner's Career

Roundtable: Our Favourite Memories of Jamie Varner's Career

On Saturday night 35-fight veteran Jamie Varner retired in the Octagon after losing to Drew Dober in his hometown of Phoenix, Arizona, his 4th loss in a row.

"I can't keep up with these young kids anymore," Varner said in an emotion post fight interview with Joe Rogan. "It's been an absolute dream, guys. I've been fighting a long time. It's been a dream. I own a gym, I've gotten to do things I never thought I could do."

A pro since 2003, Varner has had his shares of ups and downs, from defeating Rob McCullough to win the WEC lightweight title to losing to Dakota Cochrane, a TUF contestant best known for moonlighting as a gay-for-pay pornstar.

An ultra aggressive lightweight Varner will always be remembered as a tough SOB who brought it every time. With that in mind, we take a look at our favourite moments in the career of Jamie Varner.

Chris Houten - @ChrisHoutenMMA

Jamie Varner will likely look back at his WEC 32 KO of Rob McCullough to earn him the WEC lightweight title and his title defenses over Marcus Hicks and Donald Cerrone as the highlights of his career. For me though, I will always remember Varner for his aggressive style, and his warriors spirit.

From his fight of the year bout with Joe Lauzon in 2012, an all-out war where Varner fought for half the fight with a broken hand, to his upset of the year victory over Edson Barboza where he defied the odds to defeat one of the biggest prospects in all of MMA, Varner has shown time and time again what a warrior he is. For me though the fight that epitomises Varner's warriors spirit is his loss to James Kause where he fought for 3 minutes on a broken ankle. 

For all his ups and downs, Varner has never gave up on his the do or die attitude that made him a champion in the first place. Varner is a true champions, and a true warriors, who will pass his fighting spirit through his gym for many years to come. Thank you for the memories, Jamie.

Ben Heather - @benheather

For me Jamie Varner showcases everything that an MMA fighter should be. You knew everytime he stepped in that cage the crowd would be entertained and what more can you ask for. As the years have gone on this has cost him some fights such as the fight with Abel Trujillo earlier this year. However, this style has certainly gained him a lot more fans and I am one of them.

The personal highlight for me is his fight with Joe Lauzon, this may sound strange to pick a fight he lost as my highlight of his career but I think he showcased everything in that fight and literally put it all on the line. Coming in to the fight on short notice, again... he returned to the Octagon after knocking out Edson Barboza. In a fight that had it all he dropped Lauzon in the first round, fought through submisison attempts before getting caught in a triangle midway through the third round. This fight was rightly regarded as one of the fights of 2012 and is proved without doubt that Jamie Varner is a true warrior and will be missed by a lot of fans.

I wish him every success in the future and hope he enjoys his retirement as much as I enjoyed watching him perform in the cage.

Alex Dillon - @ADillon__

Despite never reaching the top of the UFC's lightweight division, Jamie Varner will go down as one of MMA's finest lightweights just because of his WEC days where he won the now merged lightweight title. Varner was never in a boring fight meaning that if you tuned in to watch him scrap you were guaranteed to be entertained.

Varner's finest moment for me was his return fight in the UFC in which he was actually a replacement. He stepped up to fight the highly touted prospect Edson Barboza in what was more or less meant to be an easy ride for the Brazilian. As I fondly remember, things didn't quite work out for Barboza as Varner shocked the MMA world by finishing him in the first round. Given that Barboza had previously scored one of the greatest KO's of all time over Brit Terry Etim, Varner beating him was truly memorable.

The end to Varner's career will always be a shame as he was in control of Trujillo fight before being KO'd at the death. Then breaking his ankle too against James Krause as well as his final loss inside the Octagon is not the way he wanted to go out but I'm sure many would agree, he gave fans one of the finest memories ever with the Barboza upset.

Share on Google Plus

About Unknown

This is a short description in the author block about the author. You edit it by entering text in the "Biographical Info" field in the user admin panel.