A lightweight bout between former WEC lightweight title contender Donald Cerrone and Ed Ratcliff has been verbally agreed upon for the yet unannounced WEC 45 event, which is expected to take place on Dec. 19 in Las Vegas, NV. News of the bout was first reported by Sherdog.com.

According to the report, the Cerrone vs. Ratcliff lightweight bout would likely serve as the night's co-main event.

The WEC was briefly considering putting together Jamie Varner vs. Donald Cerrone II while waiting on medical clearance on newly crowned WEC interim champ Benson Henderson, however, it is not yet known why the promotion scrapped the plans for the Varner-Cerrone rematch.

Cerrone (10-2) is 1-2 in his last three bouts, and he most recently suffered a debatable unanimous decision  loss against Benson Henderson in the main event of WEC 43 for the promotion's interim lightweight championship. Cerrone and Henderson earned "Fight of the Night" honors for their exciting five-round war. This year's victory came against James Krause in his previous bout at WEC 41 in June.

Earlier in the year, Cerrone was defeated by Jamie Varner in a lightweight title fight at WEC 38 in January. Prior to his two losses this year, he went unbeaten in his first 10 bouts of his career, which included nine wins by submission. The longtime Ring of Fire fighter holds notable wins over the likes of Nate Mohr, Ryan Roberts, Anthony Njokuani, Danny Castillo and Rob McCullough.

Ratcliff is coming off of a win over Phil Cardella at WEC 42 in August. He previously suffered his first career loss against Marcus Hicks at WEC 33 in March 2008. Ratcliff is 3-1 in four bouts with the WEC, with wins coming over Johnny Sampaio and Alex Karalexis.

Ratcliff sports a near perfect MMA record of 7-1, with all but one of his seven wins coming by stoppage, including five by TKO or KO. The Total Combat veteran holds a notable career wins over Affliction veteran Brett Cooper. He currently hones his skills at Alliance MMA gym in Chula Vista, Calif., with the likes of Brandon Vera and Dominick Cruz.

WEC 45 could be headlined by WEC bantamweight championship bout between current champion Brian Bowles and top contender Dominick Cruz.