A lightweight bout between former champ Jamie Varner (16-4-1 MMA, 4-2-1 WEC) and contender Shane Roller (8-3 MMA, 5-2 WEC) will be part of December's WEC 53 event.
A source close to the negotiations told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) the bout soon will be finalized. MMAWeekly.com first reported it earlier today.
WEC 53 takes place Dec. 16 at Jobing.com Arena in Glendale, Ariz., and the night's main card airs on Versus.
Varner vs. Roller likely will get a spot on the televised lineup, especially considering Varner's ties to Arizona.
The Phoenix-based fighter looks to snap out of a career-worst 0-2-1 skid. It began earlier this year with a submission loss to Ben Henderson, which forced Varner to relinquish his title, and it continued with a split draw with Kamal Shalorus at WEC 49 and a unanimous-decision defeat to rival Donald Cerrone at WEC 51 in September.
Prior to the setbacks, the two-time UFC fighter posted a five-fight win streak, which included a TKO win over Rob McCullough to win the belt and successful title defenses over Marcus Hicks and Cerrone.
Roller, a three-time Division I All-American wrestler at Oklahoma State University, debuted with the WEC in 2008 and found himself within arm's reach of a title shot after posting a 5-1 record. The wins came over notables such as Anthony Njokuani, Hicks and Danny Castillo. But hoping to earn a title shot and avenge the only loss of his WEC career (to now-champ Henderson), Roller suffered a submission loss to Anthony Pettis at WEC 50 in August.
Pettis is now slotted to fight Henderson in WEC 53's main event, but either Roller could be in prime title contention with a victory over Varner.
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