UFC Live on Versus: Vera vs. Jones

UFC Live: Vera vs. Jones
1ST Bank Arena
Broomfield, Colorado
March 21, 2010
Versus

Thank You Dana White and the UFC for getting Versus back on DirecTV just in time for this show. I know it was no coincidence. This is the UFC's debut show on Versus and it's a solid "free" TV card headlined by Jon "Bones" Jones versus Brandon Vera. Top 10 Heavyweight Junior dos Santos will also take on Gabriel Gonzaga in the Co-Main Event. Mike Goldberg and Joe Rogan are the announcers for the show and Bruce Buffer is the ring announcer.

Middleweight Fight- James Irvin (14-5) vs. Alessio Sakara (18-7)

This is the Middleweight debut for James Irvin. Sakara has won 3 of his last 4 fights. Sakara is a former pro boxer and Irvin loves to stand up so we could see an explosive fight between these two guys. Irvin has a 3" reach and 2" height advantage. If I was a betting man I wouldn't bet on this fight but I'd go with Sakara if I had to make a choice. It's always interesting to watch a guys first performance when moving down in weight and seeing how their body adjusts to the move during the fight. Sakara is now training full time at American Top Team and is 3-1 since moving to that camp.

R1- Irvin clipped Sakara and he went down early but bounced right back up. Sakara is landing some good hard strikes and is doing a good job of changing levels. Sakara nailed Irvin with a punch to the eye but the ref stopped the fight when Irvin complained of an eye poke. Weird stoppage as it looked like Sakara was about to finish Irvin and the ref is going to award the win to Sakara by TKO. Weird finish and a quick stoppage but the right guy won the fight.

Winner: Alessio Sakara by TKO (Punches) R1 3:01

Urijah Faber is in the house and Mike Goldberg hypes the upcoming Faber/Jose Aldo WEC PPV.I think Urijah goes to every MMA event.

Shane Carwin fights Frank Mir on Saturday at UFC 111 for the UFC Interim Heavyweight Title with the winner facing Brock Lesnar. They show a pre-taped interview with Carwin and Joe Rogan. Carwin is 11-0 with 11 knockouts.

Heavyweight Fight- Cheick Kongo (24-6-1) vs. Paul Buentello (25-11)

This is another fight between two guys who like to stand and bang. Buentello is coming off of a loss to Stefan Struve in his return to the UFC. Kongo has a 2" height and 5" reach advantage. I'm taking Kongo in this one. Buentello has been training with Shane Carwin for tonight's fight.

R1- Kongo got a take down at the one minute mark. Buentello tried his best to illegally use the cage to save his fall but failed. Buentello got back up and Kongo took him back down with a slam. Buentello got to his feet and then it looked like he dislocated his finger and Herb Dean stopped the fight for a minute. Kongo got another take down with a minute left in the round. Kongo 10-9.

R2- Kongo threw some good strikes against the cage and then took Buentello down again in the first minute of the round. Kongo landed some good knees to the body but then hit Buentello in the head with a knee while Buentello still had one knee on the ground and was in the process of getting up so Herb Dean steps in and gives Buentello a minute to recover. Herb Dean takes one point away from Kongo for the illegal knee to a downed opponent. Kongo got another take down shortly after the fight was re-started. Kongo landing some knees to the body. Kongo landed some knees to Buentello's head. Kongo landed some good strikes and got another take down. This is a borderline 10-8 round in favor of Kongo. Depending on how this round was scored Kongo is up 29-28 or 29-27 after his one point deduction.

"He's getting molested"- Joe Rogan

R3- Kongo got a quick take down at the start of the final round. Kongo hit some elbows to Buentello's side and Buentello tapped out. Really strong showing for Kongo.

Winner: Cheick Kongo by Submission (Strikes) R3 1:16

GSP is interviewed by Joe Rogan via satellite to discuss his title defense on Saturday against Dan Hardy.

Heavyweight Fight- Junior Dos Santos (10-1) vs. Gabriel Gonzaga (11-4)

If Dos Santos can keep winning he is one or two fights away from fighting for the title. Santos trains with Big Nog, Lyoto Machida and Anderson Silva. Gonzaga is a former jiu-jitsu world champion. Dos Santos is a jiu-jitsu purple wins. Neither fighter has ever been to a decision. Gonzaga out weighs Dos Santos by 17 pounds but Dos Santos says he will make that up with his speed. Dos Santos is my pick in this one.

R1- Gonzaga got a take down but Dos Santos did a good job on getting right back to his feet. Dos Santos is doing a good job in changing levels and is starting to land some strikes. Dos Santos landed a big left and Gonzaga went down. Dos Santos was able to get through with some Ground and Pound shots and this one is all over. Really impressive win for Dos Santos. The Heavyweight Division is just stacked right now with young guys like Dos Santos, Velasquez, Brock, Shane Carwin and Todd Duffee. And that's not even mentioning guys like Mir and Big Nog.

Winner: Junior Dos Santos by KO (Strikes) R1 3:53

Welterweight Fight- John Howard vs. Daniel Roberts

This is from the pre-show so this one is going to be a quick one. This is Roberts UFC debut.

R1- Roberts got a take down but Howard got back to his feet. Roberts grabbed a kimura and used it to sweep Howard back to the ground. Roberts landed some Ground and Pound. Howard picked up Roberts and slammed him and took top position. Roberts went for an omaplata but Howard got out of the submission and then delivered a huge left hand that knocked Roberts out while Roberts was still on the mat. Fantastic punch by Howard. Roberts looked pretty good early in the fight but he just got tagged. Howard is now 4-0 in the UFC and has won 7 straight fights.

Winner: John Howard by KO (Punch) R1 2:01

Light Heavyweight Fight- Jon Jones (9-1) vs. Brandon Vera (11-4)

Jones is coming off of a demolition of Matt Hamill where he got DQ'd due to downward elbows but he just blew out Hamill and destroyed him. The Hamill DQ loss is the only loss on Jones's record. This is the 2nd fight for Jones since he's joined Greg Jackson's camp. Jones has a background as a JUCO wrestling champion and comes at his opponent with a lot of different angles and does moves that aren't commonly used in MMA. He's a very unique talent. Brandon Vera is a Muay Thai fighter who also has a brown belt in bjj. Vera is a very good fighter but has honestly looked lackluster in the last year or two. Jones has a 6.5" reach advantage in this fight. I see this as a very even fight. I'm going to take Jones via decision as most of Vera's recent fights seem to have gone to decision if my memory is correct.

R1- Jones immediately got a take down on a judo type throw. Vera did a good job of kicking Jones off. Jones landed a knee and then got another take down. Vera hit an illegal up kick on Jones (it was illegal because Jones had a knee on the mat). Herb Dean takes a point away from Brandon Vera which could be huge with Vera's recent history of decisions. Dean restarts the fight with Jones in full guard. Vera tries another up kick but this time it brushed off Jones's shoulder. Rogan is commenting that Vera is looking for an arm bar. Jones hits some good Ground and Pound and Vera covers up and turns his back and Dean stops the fight. Jones landed some good shots and Vera looked like he got hurt bad. Good stoppage by Dean as Vera is still down on his knees with his hands on his face. In the replay Jones hit a crushing elbow strike to the side of Vera's face. Rogan says he may have done something to Vera's orbital socket. Great win for Jon Jones. Jon Jones is the real deal.

Winner: Jon Jones by TKO (Strikes) R1 3:19