Jamie Varner shows why losers shouldn’t be interviewed after the fight

Can they please stop interviewing the loser in the cage after a fight? When will they learn that there’s nothing to be gained from it. At best, the fighter is gracious in defeat, says he lost to the better man, that he’ll come back better than ever and then he reels off a list of sponsors. At worst, you get Tito Ortiz’s excuse-making. At least Forrest Griffin’s post-Anderson Silva sprint spared us an attack of foot-in-mouth (or head-up-ass) disease.

On Sunday, it was Jamie Varner showing his lack of class following his loss to Ben Henderson in their lightweight title unification bout at WEC 46. The lightweight champ was ahead on my scorecard heading into round three against the rubbery interim champ when he gave up his neck during a shot and found himself tapping really quickly to a standing arm-in guillotine. Already annoyed at Henderson’s Jesus-praising speech (something else I think we could all do without), I became disgusted when Varner took the mic and claimed Henderson wanted to grapple and he wanted to fight and that’s why he lost.

Anyone who watched the first two rounds would think differently. It was Varner who was shooting for takedowns, which he must know often lead to grappling. It was Varner who locked in a guillotine of his own in the first round that he couldn’t finish. It was Varner who shot in and handed Henderson his head on a platter. What was Henderson supposed to do? Ignore the opportunity to finish the fight? Stand there and bang some more (which he’d been doing all along, I must add).

It’s called mixed martial arts, Jamie, not boxing or kickboxing or stand-and-strike or patty-cake. Yes, Jamie, “shit happens,” as you said. You made a mistake, Henderson took advantage and you got caught. I get that you were high on adrenaline and endorphins and feeling frustrated and disappointed and angry, that it was “in the moment” and that if you had a chance to compose yourself and think about things you might not have said things quite the way you did. But then I didn’t see any apology or clarification forthcoming at the post-fight press conference.

Fans are tearing you a new asshole on your Facebook page. The language is harsh, but the point is a good one.

But since I’m pretty sure there will always be fighters making douche bag comments following a loss (or a win, if you’re Brock Lesnar), can the promotions please limit it by not interviewing the losers immediately following the fight? It’s in everybody’s best interest.