UFC light heavyweight champion Rashad Evans appears likely to make his first title defense against former champ Quinton "Rampage" Jackson at UFC 96 in Columbus on March 7.
Jesse Holland of MMA Mania reports that Evans-Jackson is in the works for that card, which was previously expected to include the return to the Octagon of Chuck Liddell. It now looks like Liddell won't be back that soon.
The UFC has already booked several fights for UFC 96, but none of them is of main event quality. Currently the top fight on the UFC 96 card is Shane Carwin vs. Gabriel Gonzaga, but that will definitely not be the main event. It could function as a good co-main event, though, as the Carwin-Gonzaga winner would be close to earning a heavyweight title shot.
Despite some grumbling among fans that the UFC is running out of big names to put in its upcoming main events, Jackson-Evans would probably precede a middleweight title fight between Anderson Silva and Thales Leites on April 18 and a heavyweight title fight between Brock Lesnar and Frank Mir on May 23. We'll see a lot of good fights in the first half of 2009.
UFC 96: Rampage Jackson-Rashad Evans in Columbus on March 7? originally appeared on MMA FanHouse on Wed, 14 Jan 2009 14:42:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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