Jamie Varner meets James Krause at UFC 173 in Las Vegas

A former WEC champion has been added to the lineup of the UFC’s annual Memorial Day weekend card in Las Vegas.

Jamie Varner (21-9-1 MMA, 3-4 UFC) and James Krause (20-5 MMA, 1-1 UFC) each will try to rebound from recent losses when they meet in a lightweight bout at UFC 173.

A source with knowledge of the fight booking on Saturday confirmed the news to MMAjunkie. The source asked to remain anonymous because he was not authorized to speak about the matchup. Twitter user @FrontRowBrian first reported the bout.

UFC 173 takes place May 24 at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. The card, which is headlined by a middleweight title bout between champ Chris Weidman and challenger Vitor Belfort, has a main card on pay-per-view following prelims on FOX Sports 1 and UFC Fight Pass.

Varner, a former WEC lightweight champion, has dropped two straight fights and three of his past four after returning to the promotion at UFC 146, the 2012 Memorial Day weekend card. At that event, he became the first fighter to beat Edson Barboza. The first-round knockout was considered one of the year’s biggest upsets.

After the win over Barboza, he was stopped by Joe Lauzon in a “Fight of the Night” performance at UFC on FOX 4. He rebounded with a split-decision win over Melvin Guillard at UFC 155, but then dropped a split call to Gleison Tibau at UFC 164 this past August. Earlier this month, in a slugfest at UFC 169, he was knocked out by Abel Trujillo – though he again won “Fight of the Night.”

Krause was one of the hottest fighters outside of the UFC when he signed to fight Sam Stout on short notice at UFC 161. HE responded by stopping the Canadian with just 13 seconds left in their fight, and he won both “Submission of the Night” and “Fight of the Night” honors in his promotional debut.

But at the UFC’s “Fight for the Troops 3? show in November, after taking a pair of low blows from Bobby Green, a third was close – but not close enough, referee Dan McCarthy said. When Krause fell to the canvas, McCarthy waved the fight off and gave Green the TKO win, snapping Krause’s eight-fight streak in controversial fashion.

With the addition, the latest UFC 173 card now includes:

• Chris Weidman vs. Vitor Belfort
• James Krause vs. Jamie Varner
• Chris Holdsworth vs. Kyung Ho Kang
• Doo Ho Choi vs. Sam Sicilia

For the latest on UFC 173, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site.

(Pictured: Jamie Varner)