Photo Courtesy of Dave Mandel of Sherdog.com

Broomfield, Colo. was the very first home of UFC on Versus, as the series capped off an incredible event of knockouts, long bouts and, of course, bone-crunching submissions.

As expected, the headliner, Vera vs. Jones was an interesting one, in which the young light heavyweight, Jon Jones took care of the experienced kickboxer, Brandon Vera within the first round. From the start, Jones took control with a leg-trip takedown, which was followed by some heavy punches. Vera’s efforts to keep Jones away were futile, as Jones succeeded in another takedown.

While Jones was throwing elbows in Vera’s guard, Vera hit an illegal upkick to the jaw, which lost him a point. That point wouldn’t matter; however, as Jones delivered a vicious elbow to Vera, and ended that match via TKO with punches at 3:19 in the first round. Jones was awarded one of three Knockouts of the Night, and an extra $50,000. Jones still has never been technically beaten, as he was disqualified in his last fight for an illegal elbow shot.

The other two Knockouts of the Night were given to Junior dos Santos in his defeat over Gabriel Gonzaga at 3:53 of Round 1, and to a Preliminary Card matchup between United States fighter John Howard, who took on fellow American Daniel Roberts in welterweight action. The fight was originally scheduled to be Howard vs. Anthony Johnson. Johnson could not compete due to a training injury.

Roberts took Howard on in his UFC debut, but his inexperience proved to be his weakness, as Howard threw the knockout punch at 2:01 of the first round. This fight was Roberts’ first recorded MMA loss, putting him at 9-1. Howard moves on to a 4-0 UFC record, and a 14-4 MMA record.

Clay Guida, Courtesy of MMAWeekly

Another Preliminary Card matchup that won honors was Clay Guida (26-11) vs. Shannon Gugerty (12-5), which won Submission of the Night. This puts Gugerty at a small slump since his submission loss to Terry Etim at UFC 105. Lightweights Gugerty and Guida lasted two rounds before Guida locked on an arm-triangle choke at 3:40 and got the tap from Gugerty.

The Fight of the Night honor was not rewarded at this event.

The final two Main Card bouts were between Italian middleweight Alessio Sakara (8-1) and American James Irvin (14-6), and France heavyweight Cheick Kongo (22-6) and American Paul Buentello (27-11).

A sloppy beginning led to a sloppy end for Irvin, as Sakara took advantage of the new middleweight’s mistakes. After what appeared to be a shot to the eye, the fight was paused to allow Irvin to recover. After a few minutes of review, it was determined that the punch involved no poking, and Irvin could not continue. Sakara was named victorious due to TKO at 3:01 of the first round.

Kongo-Buentello was quite the different style matchup, as it went three rounds until a victor was named. In the first round, not a lot of damage was done to either fighter, although Kongo had much of the control. After what looked to be a pinky injury to Buentello, the fight is paused and then resumes, allowing Kongo to take out his frustrations with a hard takedown and furious punches. Kongo wins the first round.

Much of the same in the second round, as Buentello got destroyed in all facets of the game. Finally, Kongo gets the tap from Buentello in the third round (1:16) after a quick takedown, headlock and elbows to the knee.

Overall, the 1st Bank Center had an attendance of 6,443 and a total gate of $568,125. The next UFC event will be headlined by Georges St. Pierre and Dan Hardy at UFC 111 at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J. That will be this Saturday, March 27, 2010 at 10:00 p.m., eastern time on Pay-Per-View.

Dos Santos vs. Gonzaga

In the midst of a five-bout winning streak that spanned all the way back to March of 2008, BJJ and boxing specialist Junior dos Santos added to his streak at the very first UFC on Versus. He now holds an 11-1 record, professionally.

The heavyweight faced off against Brazilian Gabriel Gonzaga (11-5), who he was supposed to face at UFC 108 in January of 2010 in Las Vegas, Nev., but could not compete due to a staph infection.

The two finally got the opportunity to fight this past Sunday, March 21, in Broomfield, Colo., where after a few moments of feeling each other out, dos Santos was able to gain control through jabs and a vicious left hook. Dos Santos finished the match off with a ground and pound on top to knock Gonzaga unconscious. The fight was ruled in dos Santos’ favor via TKO at 3:53 in the first round. Dos Santos won the bonus of Knockout of the Night.

In his previous fight at UFC 108, where Netherlands competitor Gilbert Yvel (36-14) replaced Gonzaga, dos Santos, also known as “Cigano” (or “Gypsy”), put his opponent away in an even more aggressive manner, which has been a staple in the fighting style of dos Santos for his entire career, winning all but two of his bouts in the first round.

Cigano had no remorse for Yvel, as he immediately delivered some blows to the chin and body, and followed up soon after with a left hook counter punch to an attempted head kick. The fight was stopped at 2:07 in the first round after dos Santos mounted his opponent and pummeled him with hammer fists.

Hailing out of Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, dos Santos holds a brown belt in BJJ. He trains with Team Blackhouse, located in both Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and Los Angeles, Calif. Cigano trains among the elite in mixed martial arts, including Anderson Silva and Antonio Rodrigo Noguiera.

Dos Santos has not yet been scheduled for his next fight, but certainly looks to continue using an aggressive-knockout style, which has won him nine of his eleven bouts via knockout.

Brandon “The Truth” Vera (11-4) broke onto the scene five years ago as a young, up-and-coming heavyweight prospect with intentions of proving himself by beating the best competition that the UFC had to offer. Vera ran through opponents in the two years that followed, but was denied his title intentions due to defeats from more experience UFC veterans.

Brandon Vera

On Sunday, for the first time, Vera will play the role of “the gatekeeper” when he faces young, up-and-coming light-heavyweight prospect Jon “Bones” Jones (9-1) in the main event of UFC Live: Vera vs. Jones at the 1st Bank Center in Broomfield, Colo.

Fighting out of San Diego, Calif., Vera is a former WEC heavyweight champion. Vera, a brown belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, currently trains with both Team Lloyd Irvin and Alliance MMA in San Diego. He has also trained at Linxx Academy and Hybrid Academy.

Vera gained experience wrestling in high school and continued wrestling at Old Dominion University, and then with the United States Air Force. However, he is best known in the MMA world for his effective muay thai skills.

Through the first four years of his MMA career Vera went a perfect 8-0, with seven of his wins coming by way of stoppage and four earned in UFC competition. Arguably his most impressive performance came at UFC 65 when he stopped Frank Mir at just 1:09 into the first round via TKO (punches).

In his next two matches Vera saw a step up in competition, losing a decision to Tim Sylvia and a TKO to Fabricio Werdum. These back-to-back losses, to much larger opponents, prompted Vera’s move to light-heavyweight competition. Vera now holds a 3-2 record as a light-heavyweight. His two losses came via close and controversial decisions.

Vera vs. Fabiano Scherner

MMA veteran, TUF cast-member and UFC newcomer Krzysztof Soszynski (19-9-1) went the distance with Vera at UFC 102. Vera won a unanimous decision by controlling the fight, avoiding the takedown and dominating on the feet with strong kicks and combinations.

Vera saw a step up in competition in his next fight as he went the distance with UFC Hall of Famer and five-time UFC champion Randy “The Natural” Couture in the main event of UFC 105. Couture controlled the fight from the clinch utilizing dirty boxing while Vera dominated the striking from the feet, hurting Couture badly with kicks and combinations in each round.

Vera was caught in Couture’s clinch, fighting off the takedown, for the majority of the competition. However, Vera landed very effective strikes from the feet. He dropped Couture in the second round, but was unable to finish him. After bearing an assault from the clinch Vera landed a series of body kicks that hurt Couture in the third round and followed up by taking him down and transitioning to full mount. The fight ended with an intense exchange.

All three judges scored the bout 29-28 in favor of Couture. The ruling surprised Vera and was very controversial.

Jon Jones is a young (22 year old) prospect with impressive striking and wrestling skills. Vera’s muay thai skills will be much more relevant in his upcoming fight than in his last two, which saw him trapped in his opponent’s clinch for the majority of the fight. However, Vera, a BJJ brown belt, will likely have an advantage in the unlikely case that the fight goes to the ground.

Vera has been in Jones’ situation a number of times early in his UFC career. Jones will face the toughest test in his young MMA career at UFC Live: Vera vs. Jones. For Vera, a victory will likely put him back in the title-mix.

The event will air live on Versus at 9 p.m. EST