Lightweights Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone and Ed Ratcliff are scheduled to meet at WEC 45 on Dec. 19 in Las Vegas.Sherdog.com was first to report the matchup and FanHouse has learned that the bout could possibly determine the next opponent for the winner of the title unification bout in early 2010 between champion Jamie Varner and interim titleholder Ben Henderson.
Ratcliff (7-1) is a striker out of San Diego with wins in the WEC against Phil Cardella, Alex Karalexis and Johnny Sampaio. His only career loss was against Marcus Hicks by choke submission in March 2008.
Cerrone (10-2) lost at the most recent WEC main event to Henderson in a close unanimous decision. He's been a major player in the WEC's lightweight division recently fighting in an interim title bout and losing to champ Varner in January due to a technical split decision. Cerrone holds wins in the WEC against Danny Castillo, James Krause and former champ "Razor" Rob McCullough.
Notes: Bart Palaszewski will compete on the WEC 45 card ... Anthony Pettis has withdrawn from his WEC 44 fight against McCullough due to injury.
