When Versus announced that they would air two live UFC events in 2010 it turned a lot of heads inside the MMA community. After all, didn't Spike have an exclusive cable deal with the UFC? Luckily, MMA fans got some answers regarding the UFC-Versus partnership on today's WEC 44 media conference call.

Versus will air two UFC "Fight Night" cards on yet to be determined dates in 2010. 

Dana White assured fans that the UFC Versus product will not be watered down.

"These will be ... (UFC) Fight Night cards," White said. "The fights that we're talking about putting on Versus for the first time are going to be good ones. Really good."

Since Zuffa will be cross pollinating their two promotions on a single network it leads us to the obvious and repeated questions of a WEC-UFC merger. Dana White shot down the possibility of WEC "showcase" fights on UFC pay-per views. White went on to elaborate that the goal is to get the WEC ready for pay-per view. 

"Our goal has been to get the WEC on pay-per-view this whole time, so absolutely we're looking at that," White said when asked about the future of WEC on pay-per-view. "The problem is there are so many dates taken between us, the WWE and boxing, it's tough to find dates; we're trying to line up fights.

"It's a lot more than just throwing something on pay-per-view. There's a lot of work and planning involved in it, but our goal is to put a WEC fight on pay-per-view."

...

"People ask me that all the time. They're two separate companies, and I was just saying that earlier, our goal is to get the WEC pay-per view. That's what we are looking to do. 

WEC officials have been teasing the MMA community for some time now regarding an eventual transition to pay-per view.

WEC General Manager, Reed Harris, went a step further though (into the realm of "I'll believe it when I see it") when he told the Junkie that the WEC is looking into holding events in Canada and Mexico City in 2010 and possibly Europe in 2011.

SBN coverage of WEC 45: Cerrone vs. Ratcliff