Source: WEC looking to kick off new year with San Diego event

Despite faltering in his performance against Mike Brown at WEC 36 in Hollywood, Fla., earlier this month, former World Extreme Cagefighting featherweight champion Urijah Faber is still in the promotion's plans when it comes to putting together a blockbuster fight card.

That is exactly what the UFC's sister promotion has on tap for January.

Reliable independent sources confirmed to MMAWeekly.com that the WEC is looking to kick 2009 off in style, going big right out of the gate. Current plans call for the promotion to make its first stop ever in San Diego on Jan. 25 with one of its most loaded cards to date.

As mentioned, Faber is set to be part of the fight card, although he won't get the immediate rematch with Brown that he had hopes for. Brown suffered torn rib cartilage in winning the belt from Faber on Nov. 5 and is unlikely to return to action before March. It is currently unknown whom the WEC will match Faber up against, but the short list includes Leonard Garcia and Jose Aldo.

"Urijah wants to fight in January," his manger, Mike Roberts, stated in a recent interview with MMAWeekly Radio. "We're still trying to sort out who he's going to fight."

Current WEC lightweight champ Jamie Varner will make the second defense of his title when he faces Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone in what is likely to land as the main event at WEC 38. Cerrone earned a shot at Varner with his "Fight of the Night" performance against "Razor" Rob McCullough at WEC 36. Cerrone overcame two knockdowns in the opening round to batter McCullough en route to a three-round unanimous decision.

Welterweight kingpin Carlos Condit will also don the card, looking to keep his eight-fight winning streak intact. No opponent has been locked down at the time of publication, but indications are that a rematch with Brock Larson could be in the works for Condit, who recently made the move to train at Arizona Combat Sports with Varner.

In a recent conference call, WEC vice president Peter Dropick stated that pay-per-view is in the works for the promotion, "Do I have anything scheduled (for PPV)? No. Do I have plans? Yes."

The plan isn't to put WEC 38 on pay-per-view event, however. Sources indicate that it will be carried live on Versus.