Julius Caeser is assassinated on "The Ides of March"

The Ides of March are no concern for MMA fans this year, as the month will kindly shower us with an intriguing sequence of shows.

The thunder starts to roll on March 21, which marks the first whopper event for the UFC on the Versus that will be headlined by the salivating match-up between light-heavyweight young guns Jon Jones and Brandon Vera.  Has there ever been a more compelling main-event between two fighters who are both coming off losses?

Vera dropped a contentious decision to Randy Couture at UFC 105, where "Captain America" Couture turned in a less than heroic performance by draping himself over Vera and wedging him against the cage to stifle the sting of his long strikes.  Unfortunately, Couture also smothered any  chances for an exciting fight, as Vera was offered only a precious few moments to do damage with his kickboxing when he could break free from the confines of Couture's adhesive-like attack.  Couture walked away with the unanimous decision, but Vera's stock with the fans and the UFC was obviously not too adversely affected considering his main-event status.

Jon Jones also emerged as the de facto winner despite being disqualified versus Matt Hammill, as the dynamic young fighter dominated his opponent in every aspect before getting a little too overzealous when trying to finish the fight.  Jones picked Hammill apart on the feet with a wide array of strikes before catching him in a body lock and rag-dolling him with a beautiful throw that was powerful enough to injure Hammill's shoulder on impact.  Jones secured the mount and began peppering with punches, but the entombed Hammill continued to squirm and covered effectively to thwart the onslaught, and after a few sideways glances at the referee, Jones unleashed a vicious burst of downward elbows that were ruled to have followed the unacceptable 12 to 6 trajectory.

Both Jones and Vera are flashy strikers and highly competent grapplers, with Vera excelling in submissions just as Jones does in wrestling, and each represent the new school of athletic, high-powered, and hungry 205'ers who are looking to outshine the many seasoned veterans that populate the weight-class.

The backbone for the "UFC on Versus 1" show begins with another critical showdown between Brazilian heavyweights Junior "Cigano" dos Santos and Gabriel Gonzaga.  dos Santos has been cleaving through the heavyweight division with a set of whirling meat-hooks that have folded Stefan Struve and former Pride stars Mirko CroCop, Fabricio Werdum, and Gilbert Yvel. 

Gonzaga has experienced mixed success in his chase for the heavyweight crown.  After giving CroCop a taste of his own medicine with a high-dosage "cemetery kick", he lost the championship fight with Couture and then was pounded out by Werdum.  He strung two wins together before charging into a stiff right-hand from Shane Carwin, and didn't necessarily vault back into public adoration after the ugly win over Tuchscherer.

 Rounding out the UFC's first Versus card is Paul Buentello vs. Cheick Kongo in a guaranteed slug-fest, along with Clay Guida vs. Shannon Gugerty and James Irvin vs. Alessio Sakara.

Although the UFC has another phenomenal card lined up less than a week after, we get the pleasure of feasting on an appetizing DREAM 13 card that's sandwiched in between.  The big attraction on DREAM 13 is the first foray at featherweight for overseas icon Joachim "Hellboy " Hansen, the Norwegian brawler who has been a staple in the Japanese lightweight picture ever since he served as the roadblock to the breakout career of Takanori Gomi in Shooto.  Hansen is fresh-off the conclusion of his trilogy with top-ranked submissionist Shinya Aoki, as the pair traded wins for the DREAM lightweight belt before Aoki closed the third chapter with an armbar victory at DREAM 11.

Hansen, who was always a thin lightweight, will cut a few extra pounds and challenge Bibiano Fernandes, the featherweight who battled his way through the thick of DREAM's featherweight Gran Prix to earn the championship on the same evening that Hansen fell to Aoki.  Considering Hansen's prowess in a weight class north, he is obviously expected to make big waves at featherweight by being welcomed to the division with a title fight.

There are two more barnburners lurking behind the big main-event that I can't envision unfolding in anything other than a dramatic typhoon of action.  KJ Noons, the former EliteXC lightweight champ and occasional pro-boxer who is best known for thwarting Nick Diaz, will launch his new Strikeforce contract by representing the American company under the DREAM banner against Andre "Dida" Amado in another "DREAM vs. Strikeforce" affair.   Additional octane is found in the return of Katsunori Kikuno, wielder of the dreaded crescent-kick who impressed despite losing to Eddie Alvarez at DREAM 12, who will dig back in against veteran Kuniyoshi Hironaka.

The other two official fights are Ryo "The Piranha" Chonan taking on exciting prospect . Andrews Nakahara, and Super Hulk champion Ikuhisa Minowa facing Jimmy Ambriz

UFC 111 in New Jersey, dubbed "That 170's Show" by some goofy journalist, is the hurrah that I'm looking forward to the most in March.  The main and co-main event feature title fights at heavy and welterweight between Georges St. Pierre and Dan Hardy and Frank Mir versus Shane Carwin.  An unusual plethora of 170 pound match-ups dominate the gist of the remaining card, including a rematch for the top-contender slot between Jon Fitch and Thiago Alves.

The next step in appeasing Frank Mir's obsession with reaping another shot at Brock Lesnar lies with Shane Carwin.  Mir is another heavyweight who has experienced mixed success throughout his championship quest; attaining the strap by snapping Tim Sylvia's arm at UFC 48 only to get broadsided on his motorcycle shortly after, afflicting the newly crowned fighter with what some thought was a career-ending injury.

Although his road back to the top of the pile was not devoid of disappointing showings, Mir seriously turned up the heat with a remorseless battering of Brazilian legend Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, and after Lesnar exacted revenge in their rematch, Mir trucked on with another example of his improved striking by blasting Cheick Kongo with a well-timed haymaker for a first-round TKO in his last fight. 

Carwin was set to face Lesnar after flogging Gonzaga, but was inevitably roped in to the fiasco with Lesnar's mysterious illness and forced to sit on the shelf until the resolution of the interim title match with Mir was aligned.  I think Shane was alright with this, as he was rehabilitating his knee and busy becoming a proud father in his time off.

Very few seem to believe Dan Hardy has a chance at beating GSP, but I do.  St. Pierre has never faced a good striker who he did not enjoy a significant reach advantage over, and although there is an argument for Thiago Alves, I don't think he's faced anyone with the raw power that Hardy holds in his fists.  Hardy, one of the Team Rough House renegades, is even more pissed-off and ablaze than usual on behalf of the general consensus that GSP will walk over him.

I think Hardy's equal or even additional length in height and reach will cause major problems for GSP standing, which will illicit the rare dynamic of forcing the dominant Canadian champion to rely more heavily on his wrestling--which is something Hardy will be well prepared for.  GSP is usually comfortable anywhere and everywhere, but he may resort to shooting doubles after tasting the dynamite of Hardy's devastating combinations, and it just may be "lights out" if "The Outlaw" is able to connect solidly with what may be the deadliest left-hook in the game.

Extreme depth is injected into UFC 111 with exhilarating welterweight showdowns such as Ricardo Almeida vs. Matt Brown, Jake Ellenberger vs. Ben Saunders, and the UFC 170 pound debut of Stockton scrapper Nate Diaz vs. Rory Markham.  This equates to the oft-quoted sentiment of "don't blink for this one!" as the theme for the entire event instead of one fight.

Zuffa will sneak one more extravaganza in on the final day of March with the monumental first appearance of Pride lightweight legend Takanori "The Fireball Kid" Gomi at Ultimate Fight Night 21.  This man was the undisputed #1 lightweight fighter in the world after igniting the Pride ring with one of MMA's most impressive win-streaks, a cycle of exemplary contests that culminated with Gomi's  historic clenching of the Pride lightweight Gran Prix after tearing through the #2 (Kawajiri) and #3 (Sakurai) world-ranked fighters. 

Gomi will be hurling overhand rockets at recurrent lightweight combatant Kenny Florian, who has twice achieved a title shot, but came up short.  Florian's lengthy and technically-fluent kickboxing repertoire and top-shelf footwork will pose an interesting threat to Gomi's ten-ton punches and cement-filled chin.

I think both Roy Nelson and Stefan Struve would be okay with me saying that "a short, fat guy will be fighting a tall, skinny guy".  Viewers will have no issues differentiating these two, as TUF 10 winner Roy "Big Country" Nelson will defy the stigma of his un-chiseled physique by unfurling his high-level grappling skills with the grace of a ballet dancer "sans tutu".  Struve is an exciting young prospect that stands 6'11" and complements his unusual height with ever-improving striking abilities and an under-rated submission game.

There are a few diamonds in the rough on this card as well, such as the first fight for Jacob Volkman at 155 pounds versus Nova Uniao standout Ronys Torres, and Rob Emerson, another under-appreciated fighter, taking on Nik Lentz.  Other interesting match-ups include Yushin Okami vs. Lucio Linhares,
Caol Uno vs. Gleison Tibau,  Nate Quarry vs. Jorge Rivera, Ross Pearson vs. Dennis Siver, and Andre Winner vs. Rafaello Oliveira.

This is my kind of month.  Although they are not littered with premiere names like these events, there is also a Strikeforce Challengers event on the 26th worth looking in to, and the second rendition of Shooto's "Like a Tiger, Like a Dragon"event on the 22nd.