After UFC president Dana White’s announcement Sunday and UFC 128 only three days away, the spotlight from the MMA world has shifted from the PPV to White and his partners buying the UFC’s biggest competitor, Strikeforce.

I have been counting down the days until Jon “Bones” Jones gets his first title shot in the UFC at UFC 128, but the news that broke Sunday really caught me off guard.  I was not expecting the UFC to purchase Strikeforce, at least not any time soon. 

White has made it well-known that he wants MMA to become the largest sport in the world, and with the UFC expanding into places like Australia, India, Japan, Canada and China, the company needs more fighters.  That was the No. 1 motive behind White and his team deciding to buy Strikeforce.  So what does this mean for the future of MMA?

From the information I’ve gathered, the UFC will treat this the same way they treated the World Extreme Cagefighting when they owned them before WEC merged with the UFC.  Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker will still be in command of things over at Strikeforce, and they will continue to show fights on Showtime. There will be no co-promoting with the UFC. 

White has said that some UFC fighters will make their way to Strikeforce, but no Strikeforce fighters will go to the UFC until their contracts with Strikeforce and Showtime run out.  White also said that once a fighter’s contract runs out, the UFC and Strikeforce will deal for the fighter just as they would in the past, but you have to know that White will have the ultimate say-so in the matter.

I think this is a really smart move by the UFC as Strikeforce has a lot of great fighters in the company, and I predict the future will be full of exciting match-ups that us MMA fans have been wanting to see for quite some time.

This news has tremendous impact on the future, but as for right now for the UFC, Saturday is a day that I’m sure will get great buys as Jones will fight UFC Lightheavyweight Champion Mauricio “Shogun” Rua for the belt. 

If you’re looking for an exciting match-up between two exciting mixed martial artists, look no further.  I dare you to look up Jones and Rua’s highlights on Youtube.com and not be impressed by the talent these two possess. 

Rua is coming off of a long layoff as he hasn’t fought since he defeated Lyoto Machida to become the champion at UFC 113.  Jones is a completely different story as he last fought six weeks ago when he destroyed Ryan Bader and earned a title shot.

This should be a fantastic fight, and I expect Jones to escape Saturday night with the belt around his waist.  I think Jones will use his reach advantage to keep Rua on the outside, and once Rua finds his way in, Jones will use his superior wrestling to take him down. 

The co-main event is very exciting for me because a guy that I thought really put the WEC on the map, Urijah Faber, is going to make his debut in the UFC when he faces Eddie Wineland.  If you’ve never seen Faber fight, the best way to describe his fighting style is wreckless.  Faber throws caution to the wind when he fights and will go for anything to make the fight exciting, which is why he’s always been a crowd favorite.

Saturday’s fight card is a really good as all five fights on the card are very good matchups.  Rounding out the card is Jim Miller vs. Kamal Shalorus, Nate Marquardt vs. Dan Miller and MMA legend Mirko Cro Cop vs. Brendan Schaub.