“Oh, man. Holy s**t. I’ve told everybody, when people asked me before the B.J. fight, ‘I can’t even think about UFC 100 right now.’ Now we’ve sat down and we’ve talked about it, and I’m guaranteeing you now, UFC 100 is going to kick f**king ass.”

- UFC President Dana White (via MMA Fanhouse)

Expectations couldn’t be higher for UFC’s centennial event, thanks to the legions of rumors already swirling the event still five months away.  Some of the rumored matchups appear to be virtual locks (see Georges St-Pierre v. Thiago Alves), while others are as unbelievable as they are, well, unbelievable (e.g., putting all five titles on the line).  Why won’t an all-championship card work?  Because it would be a logistical nightmare.  Five fights each going five rounds would be an epically long card, one too long for the UFC’s usual pay-per-view slot.  It would also prove just too difficult to move all the belts to one night - you’re talking about there being no title fights for at least two months before UFC 100, and two months after the event.  As monumental an all-championship card might be, it’s not enough to convince Dana to try and market a series of pay-per-view cards along the likes of Diego Sanchez v. Joe “Daddy” Stevenson (which happens to be free on Spike.)

So what should you expect at the Mandalay Bay Events Center come July 11?  Expect two title fights, with an outside chance at a third.  Then, depending on the number of title fights, expect one or two more main event-worthy fights between top contenders.  Perhaps the best example in recent memory for comparison purposes is UFC 92, which featured a light heavyweight championship bout between “Sugar” Rashad Evans and Forrest Griffin, and an interim heavyweight championship fight between Frank Mir and Antonio “Minotauro” Nogueira.  Also on the UFC 92 card was a main event-worthy Quinton “Rampage” Jackson vs. Wanderlei “The Axe Murderer” Silva.  Throwing the fast-rising Cheick Kongo on the card was just icing on the cake.

With that said, here are some potential matchups in descending order of likeliness:

Georges St-Pierre vs. Thiago Alves (for the UFC Welterweight Championship)

This one is virtually a lock among the MMA community.  The UFC made no secret that Alves was next in line for St-Pierre when they brought him into the octagon for a post-fight interview following St-Pierre’s demolition of BJ Penn.

BJ Penn vs. Kenny Florian (for the UFC Lightweight Championship)

Kenny Florian is widely expected to be the #1 challenger to BJ Penn for the lightweight championship belt.  BJ should be ready for July when he returns to the lightweight class, especially since mentioning on his website that he wants a rematch with GSP this July.  It’s probably going to be a while before BJ gets that rematch, though.

“Rampage” Jackson vs. Rashad Evans (for the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship)

If you’re going to see a third championship bout this July, this is going to be the one.  Evans has been sitting on the sidelines since acquiring his title against Forrest Griffin this past December, and hasn’t been officially announced for any of the upcoming UFC cards.  Evans should be getting back into the octagon sooner than later, and July seems like a perfect opportunity to do so.  As for Rampage, he still has to get past Keith Jardine, who he’s scheduled to fight at UFC 96 on March 7 - and do it with relative ease.  If Rampage falls victim to Jardine, then you might see the next fight…

Lyoto Machida vs. Rashad Evans (for the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship)

Machida is the 1B to Rampage’s 1A as the #1 light heavyweight contender.  After an impressive knockout over the previously unbeaten Thiago Silva at UFC 94, Machida is merely waiting in line for his shot at UFC history.

Michael Bisping vs. Dan Henderson

By defeating Rich Franklin at UFC 93, Dan Henderson earned himself a spot as a coach in the ninth installment of The Ultimate Fighter reality series on Spike.  He also earned himself a shot against the 17-1 Michael Bisping.  The reality show is scheduled to start airing on April 1, 2009 and will be wrapped up in June 2009.  This creates a perfect timing for The Ultimate Fighter showdown at UFC 100, and it also allows the UFC to use its reality show as a promotional vehicle leading up to its biggest event ever.

Wanderlei Silva vs. Chris Leben

After the brutal knockout at the hands of “Rampage” Jackson at UFC 92, the rumor is that Silva is looking for a return to the octagon at 185.  Chris Leben will be attempting to bounce back from a loss as well, to Michael Bisping at UFC 89.  The only question will be, is Dana White willing to reward Leben with a UFC 100 main card event after testing positive for steroids following his loss to Bisping?

Anderson Silva vs. Anybody

Many fighters say they’re willing to fight anyone, anytime, anywhere.  The Spider is one of the few fighters who truly means it.  The question is not if Silva will be ready for a fight come July, the question is at what weight class?  Over the past year, Silva has bounced back and forth between light heavyweight and middleweight, where he rules the division as UFC Middlweight Champion.  So while we know little about who’s willing to dance with the Spider this summer (with a very remote chance its Chuck Liddell), we do know that Silva first needs to pass his next assignment in Thales Leites at UFC 97 in April.  And we also know that if there’s any truth to the retirement talk, Silva is running out of time if he intends to honor the 4 remaining fights yet to be scheduled left on his contract.