SQL Server isn't necessarily better at licensing on VMs, though I think you don't have to license more CPUs than you actually have.

You don't move an 8 proc box to a VM, but you might move some of those 2 CPU ones. And even if you have 1-2 VMs on a physical, that can help.

Plus think about this. You can put two clustered SQL Servers on VMs on separate hardware. That way you don't have to worry about issues with the hardware matching up. You can just match the VMs.