Can UFC build up Versus like WWE helped launch Spike TV? It’s a question we will get answered this upcoming weekend when UFC runs their March 21st event in Broomfield, Colorado on Versus. It will be UFC’s first show on the network and, given the NBC/Comcast merger coming up, could be the biggest success story for UFC on cable if they are able to pull big ratings.

History says the Versus brand isn’t strong enough to help UFC out and that the UFC brand may not be strong enough to help Versus out. So far, nothing on Versus has pulled big ratings except for Urijah Faber fights. WEC shows without Faber on Versus pull lousy ratings. The NHL does not draw very good ratings anywhere, even on Versus. Bull riding and hunting shows populate Versus all the time. The network really doesn’t have a true identity. Can UFC help bring an identity to the station?

The promotion will try its best with their March 21st show. They have an interesting main event featuring Brandon Vera, who desperately needs a win, against Jon “Bones” Jones who is the exciting young prodigy that wants to slam all of his opponents at various angles. The semi-main heavyweight features an important heavyweight match between Junior Dos Santos and Gabriel Gonzaga. If Dos Santos wins, we are talking about him being solidified in the lower part of the upper tier of UFC’s Heavyweight division. If Gonzaga wins, he is suddenly back in the mix as a contender again. It’s a fight in which both men can make a big name for themselves on cable television. As we’ve seen with Cain Velasquez who has been put mainly on PPV, not getting that exposure on cable television can be a mistake in terms of creating fan recognition.

“This fight is really important for me, so we’re going to be there to win the fight,” exclaimed Gonzaga in a UFC media interview. “I’m going to bring all my knowledge and my training to win this fight. I was training a lot in every single way and I always try to push forward to finish the fight. I don’t want to go to the fight and be like three rounds, five minutes, win by points in a split decision. He has really good boxing skills. This is the concern right now and we train around that definitely. He has good hands; explosion. But I’m not afraid to keep the fight standing up with him because he doesn’t have too many kicks and I believe that kicks make the difference to the stand-up game. I believe it’s going to be a contact fight. Junior proves he always bring the best and I’m going to bring my best, too, and win the fight.”

Dos Santos, who has had some violent knockout wins, wouldn’t mind a ground battle but at the same time is preparing for a stand-up only fight.

“I started my camp for this fight in my hometown,” JDS noted in an official UFC media interview. “I just came out to California to train in San Diego under Nogueira’s camp, they got a lot of great guys out there. Prior to UFC 108, I already had been creating a game plan based on Gabriel Gonzaga. I’m very excited to get back into the Octagon and put on a show. I think that Gonzaga’s a great fighter, he’s a tough fighter, he’s great on the ground, he’s a jiu-jitsu champion, he’s also great on his feet but I do feel I have the advantage on our feet. My strategy is to stand up and exchange with him, it’s not going to be any different but I think it’s going to be a great fight.

“I’m very confident on my ground skills. I train with the Nogueira Brothers, who I consider to be two of the best jiu-jitsu practitioners in MMA. I’m very comfortable with my ground work and if it does go to the ground I’m going to put on a great show and put on a great fight. It might be this fight, it might be another fight, but someday you guys will see my jiu-jitsu skills.

“I’m going to go into this fight to do my job and I want to do my job well. I’ve heard that Gonzaga wants to stand up and exchange with me, so I don’t know, if he wants to do that, if that’s his game plan, then maybe it will end in the first round.”

Can the main event match the same excitement and intensity as the semi-main event? It’s all up to which Brandon Vera we get.

If we get the Brandon Vera that has shown up in his last several fights, we’re going to likely go the distance and see someone win on points. If it’s the Brandon Vera that we first saw coming into the UFC, then he will either finish off Jones in the first round or Jones will take him out with elbows quickly.

“Don’t worry, I’m still cocky. I’m still that guy,” Vera recently said in a UFC interview in an attempt to reassure the fans not to turn on him. “Some of you are going to love me, some of you are going to hate me. Either way, it’s still me and I’m not going to put on a front for anybody. That’s me. That’s me.”

“What Mr. Jones has done what the people that he’s been given, yeah, he’s been blowing through people. So, yeah, he’s the man, he’s for sure dangerous and he’s for real. But he hasn’t fought anybody like me yet. My job is to go in there and show why Jon Jones is not ready to be fighting Brandon Vera yet. Jon Jones hasn’t been hit yet. It’s real easy to be the hammer but it’s hard to be the nail. We’ll find out what he’s made of when I hit him. I’m going on worst case scenario, we’re just going to get in the best shape and be ready to go through a dogfight for three rounds. I fight on my feet. If you end up taking me down, then I just submit you . That’s the train of thought that we’re bringing to this camp man and I think that’s going to bring my stand-up back to where it was before, to where I’m really trying to knock people out, where I just don’t give a damn if you take me down. If you take me down, that’s cool, I’m cool with it. I’m going to get back to old school. I’m done playing games.”

No one questions Vera’s potential. Unfortunately, that is what Vera has mostly lived off of — his image of being a guy with a lot of potential, but the results aren’t there to show for it. Whenever you see someone hawk the fact that they have a lot of potential, it means you found someone who has talent but has no results to show for it in reality. Vera always delivers in the smack talk and in hyping up a fight, but rarely has he delivered performances lately that you would call enthralling.

Which is something you can’t say about Bones Jones. Despite getting disqualified for using illegal elbows against Matt Hamill, he absolutely destroyed the young man when they fought a few months ago. The combinations of lethal slams and violent elbows makes Jones a man to watch out for.

“The reason why I think that I’m, you know, talked about a lot is just my style, you know it’s really exciting. I know that it’s a spectator sport, I give them what they want to see and you know keep the crowd wild. My style is definitely really wild and random at times but it’s a planned attack, you know, these moves have been trained several times.

With Brandon being a striker, I’m excited you know, we’re both good strikers. Me and Brandon, you know, we’re both known to have dynamic styles. The biggest differences between me and Brandon, you know I’m not going to win my first UFC fight and go out calling out Chuck Liddell, you know, I’m very humble and I realize that there’s a lot that I need to work on. I don’t feel inferior to anyone when it comes to Mixed Martial Arts. If Brandon Vera wants a striking war, that’s what I’m going to give him. You’re going to see fireworks, you’re going to see two guys go out there … and you know it’s going to be blood, sweat, and tears.”

Jones vs. Vera is a great fight on Spike, on PPV, or on Versus. The question is whether or not UFC will be able to make a ratings dent on a cable channel that has struggled to find their niche with sports fans in North America. If Dana White can pull it off, then it will give UFC much-needed leverage in future contract re-negotiations with Spike.

Source: http://www.mmamemories.com/2010/03/15/c ... ersus.html

The UFC is starting to explode. I think it definitely has the ability to help launch the Versus TV channel. Hopefully they show many more on this channel as it appears that we will get those for free in Australia