FanHouse Reed Harris

Jamie Varner's comeback will have to wait a little longer.

While the WEC had hoped to stage a matchup between lightweight champion Varner and new interim champion Ben Henderson in December, such a scenario has essentially been ruled out by Henderson's camp after the five-round thriller that took place this weekend.

After the grueling 25-minute struggle, Henderson will need some time off before jumping back into a new training camp, and the title fight will take place in the early months of 2010, Henderson's manager Jason Genet told FanHouse.

Pay-per-views and a reality television show are still in the plans for the WEC to further its viability as the lighter weight version of the UFC.

WEC general Reed Harris said Thursday that the WEC is actively looking to enter the pay-per-view market in 2010, but when will all depend on how effective it is in the near future when it comes to building anticipated fights through its free telecasts on Versus.

On this week's edition of The MMA Hour, MDS and I were joined in studio by The Fight Network's John Pollock to discuss Fedor Emelianenko signing with Strikeforce and what this means for all the parties involved. We also previewed UFC 101's co-main event of Forrest Griffin vs. Anderson Silva and BJ Penn vs. Kenny Florian.

Later in the show, we were joined by WEC general manager Reed Harris to talk about Sunday's WEC 42 event and the organization's continuous expansion. Check out the show below.

It's a busy time in mixed martial arts, with Fedor Emelianenko and Josh Barnett in the news and two big UFC shows coming in August. But our latest MMA twitter mailbag is all about World Extreme Cagefighting, which has a show coming up on August 9 on Versus.

Jamie Varner's mixed martial arts career is not in jeopardy. The WEC lightweight champion's broken right hand has still not healed since his January title defense against Donald Cerrone forcing the organization to book an interim title match between Cerrone and rising star Ben Henderson.

However, when FanHouse contacted Varner to comment on a Youngstown Vindicator report stating he "may never fight again," Varner simply said, "That's bullsh*t."

On Sunday, August 9, World Extreme Cagefighting bantamweight champion Miguel Torres will defend his title against undefeated No. 1 contender Brian Bowles in one of the biggest fights of a great summer for MMA fans. But is there any concern that it could get lost in the shuffle that weekend, coming just 24 hours after the great UFC 101 card, featuring BJ Penn vs. Kenny Florian and Anderson Silva vs. Forrest Griffin?

"I'm hoping we sell this as the best weekend in MMA, ever," WEC General Manager Reed Harris told me in an interview Monday. "We've got UFC the night before, and then us Sunday night. People could lock the doors on Saturday and not come out until Monday. Just order two pizzas instead of one."

Read below for more from my conversation with Harris about that August 9 WEC 42 card and other WEC news.