I think Zuffa wants their own channel and Versus is ripe & cheap. I also think Zuffa will not spend a dime acquiring said channel.
They are slowly moving away from Spike TV if you have not noticed. Since they signed ink with someone with bottomless money, Zuffa has been acting like a kid in candy store : Signing Toney, having UFC's on Versus, putting on WEC PPV's, countering Strikeforce, promoting the WEC, etc
I'm not saying the Sheik is a fool and is just throwing his money at Zuffa, but you can see the new rejuvenated confidence since he came on board.
Also, Zuffa waiting for Direct TV to drop the channel may have been "strategic" in some way. Kinda like getting the stock at it's lowest (-;