Cheick Kongo vs. Paul Buentello on Versus 3/21

If this isn't on ESPN I'm going to go bat sh*t crazy.

I'm thinking that was the idea. This UFC card on Versus smacks of Zuffa trying to put more pressure (via complaining UFC fans) on DirecTV to give in.

Not that WEC fans are thrilled, but there are going to be a lot more people irritated that a free UFC show isn't available on DirecTV due to a business dispute.

Sakara vs. Irvin is a really surprising fight to me...as I didn't know either guy was even still in the UFC.

Dos Santos vs. Gonzaga is interesting. Dos Santos better be pretty high up in line if he wins this fight by KO..he has looked really impressive in all his fights so far.

Buentello vs. Kongo should be interesting. I think Kongo will win. I'm the only fan of Kongo on WF but I think he will KO Buentello.

Irvin's been injured and Sakara beat Thales Leites at UFC 101.

Ivrin was originally set to make his MW debut's against Drew McFedries at UFC 98 and then Wilson Gouveia at UFC 102 but got injured twice.

I am not sure how this can be true. I just can't wrap my head around UFC getting involved with DirecTV/Comcasts battle.

Well, theoretically, the UFC being on Versus makes Versus that much more "worth the money" (in terms of the fees DirecTV balked at in the negotiations).

As far as why the UFC would get involved, I'm sure the absence of Versus on DirecTV has had some affect on WEC. At the very least, it'll hinder their ability to grow, while taking away viewers that would otherwise watch. If WEC gets a smaller audience because Versus is not on DTV anymore, they'd also lose ad revenue, since advertising rates are determined partially by the size of the audience a show delivers.

If Zuffa wanted to get the rates back up on their WEC advertising inventory, and just get the WEC back in a lot more homes, one way to do that (without asking Versus to cave on their demands) is to toss more desirable programming onto Versus. No guarantee it will work, but it's at least a token gesture to their broadcast partner that they'd like to help out.

There's got to be some underlying reason for it, because I'm sure Zuffa could make a lot more money off this card by putting it on Spike (or even PPV). Especially since the casual fan won't know to look for UFC on Versus, which means they'll have to toss promotional $$$ into spreading the word, on top of probably pulling in less ad revenue than they would on Spike.

Just seems like there are a lot of good reasons for UFC to not put this show on Versus... there has to be a reason they're pursuing this despite all of the negatives.