The betting odds are out on UFC 96, slated to take place on March 7, 2009 in Columbus, Ohio.  The card features the undefeated Shane Carwin against MMA vet and odds-on favorite Gabriel Gonzaga (-175) in a heavyweight scrap.  And, of course, the on-the-whole-a-very-unsexy card will be headlining the top light heavyweight contender Quinton “Rampage” Jackson against former Ultimate Fighter Keith “The Dean of Mean” Jardine.
Rampage comes into the fight a near 3 to 1 favorite at -295, while the moneyline on Jardine currently stands at +235.  With a win …

BJ Penn according to Sherdog has no desire to fight until late July or Early August so he can spend time with his family. This rules him out of UFC 99 leaving the current headliner there Wanderlei Silva against Rich Franklin.
We are still negotiating the fight,” the elder Penn said. “No date [is] scheduled, but we are thinking late July or early August.”

Personally I’m ok with this because it ups our chances to see Baby J in action at UFC 100 against Kenny Florian and it also buys us …

UFC 99 will be happening in June and will feature some stellar matchups between some of the UFC’s best fighters. Since this event is a little less than a month before UFC 100 it is safe to say every fighter involved in this event from Germany will not be eligible to fight at UFC 100 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
So let’s get to confirmed matchups.
Main Event (not confirmed, but seems to be in negotiations)
BJ Penn defending his lightweight title against Kenny KenFlo Florian

Wanderlei Silva vs. Rich Franklin (at …

Strike two fighters out of the UFC 100 matchup pool as today it has been confirmed that Caol Uno is making his comeback into the UFC to face Spencer Fisher at UFC 99.
Who is Caol Uno? He is the man who famously fought BJ Penn to a draw for the Lightweight Title that caused UFC management to dissolve the division for 3 years. He is also the guy BJ Penn constantly refers too on his highlight reels as one of his best knockouts.

I am personally glad to see …

Now we don’t know all the matchups for UFC 100 beyond the main event of Georges St-Pierre versus Thiago Alves, but to get amped up at the potential matchups I thought a nice video compilation of all the UFC Undisputed Video Game footage by THQ I could find would be fun.
First up Georges St-Pierre versus BJ Penn without the UFC 94 grease gate controversy.

Also we have Dan Henderson will look to be fighting against Michael Bisping at UFC 100.  So in honor of that here is Dan Henderson demolishing Rich …

BJ Penn looks like he is going to keep fighting.  Stating in the Honalulu Advertiser
“I was sad after that loss and a lot of things were going through my head. But I woke up one day and said, ‘You know what? I’m still the lightweight champ. Let’s keep fighting.’ … That will probably be this summer, so that’s my focus now…. After I defend my belt and he defends his belt, I’d love to do it again. Mostly because of the controversy. I just want it to be clean — …

“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), …