UFC on Versus News and Notes

- UFC on Versus drew a UFC-reported attendance of 6,443 patrons for a live gate of $568,125.

- The UFC will return to Versus on August 1st in Oakland, California.

- The UFC gave out four $50,000 bonuses none for "Fight of the Night" and three for "Knockout of the Night".

- Duane Ludwig has a "severely broken" ankle.

- Brandon Vera suffered "major facial injuries".

- Early reports from the press conference focus on two things, Strikeforce and TUF 11. 

First let's talk about TUF 11. There have been numerous reports that Tito Ortiz withdrew from the reality show and his fight with Chuck Liddell at UFC 115. However, both White and Ortiz have denied those reports. The UFC President told the press during the post-fight press conference that, "If that's [Ortiz being out] the case, and that's true, I guess you're just going to have to watch and see what happens." WKR thinks we can ratchet the "where there's smoke, there's fire" meter up to meteorite entering the atmosphere level.

In regards to Strikeforce, Dana White offered some interesting critiques of the Henderson Shields fight this April:

""Dan Henderson is fighting [expletive] Jake Shields," White told the media. "Come on. Are you serious? Jake Shields is 170 pounds, and he's their (185-pound) champion?"

...

"Jake Shields is on the last fight of his contract, so they're feeding him to Dan Henderson right now because they want to get rid of him because he's going to go away, or they're going to have to pay him some big money to stick around or whatever the deal is," said White. "'We're paying more money to Dan Henderson than we can afford already, so let's get Jake's ass kicked by Dan Henderson and get rid of Jake Shields.'"

...

"It's such [expletive] bush-league [expletive], and you guys know it. They're a [expletive] joke," said White. "Showtime's always been a joke with all their sports programming, and this is no different."

Bush-league, eh? Sounds eerily similar to what the UFC did with Roger Huerta when he had one fight left with the UFC...

Shields will be a free agent after his April 17th fight so will the UFC make a bid? Of course they will.

"I will help drive that [expletive] number right up through the roof and let the Showtime boys pay him a lot of money so that Jake can stick it right up their ass. 'I just choked out Dan Henderson, and now you [expletives] are going to pay me for trying to stick it up my ass. I'm going to stick it up yours.'"

Finally, Dana made an interesting comment regarding the reported UFC counter show on April 17th. White said that it was never planned and hinted at using the media to make Strikeforce sweat. Reports surrounding the situation indicate that Zuffa was making inquires into venues and available fighters but never officially made a move.

SBN coverage of UFC on Versus: Vera vs. Jones