Event name: UFC 96: Jackson vs. Jardine Date: March 7, 2009 Location: Columbus, Ohio Venue: Nationwide Arena Broadcast: Pay-Per-View (10pm ET)

Headlining the card will be Quinton Jackson vs. Keith Jardine. Jackson, returning from his crushing knockout over Wanderlei Silva, will be taking other top contender in his weight class, the unorthodox Jardine.

Undefeated heavyweight Shane Carwin (10-0) could face his toughest test to date when he collides with former division number one contender Gabriel Gonzaga (10-3) at UFC 96, which is scheduled for the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio, on March 7.

Carwin — who gives current UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar a run for his money in terms of sheer size and athleticism — is among the promotion’s brightest young stars (even though he’s almost 34 years old). In fact, mixed martial arts legend Randy Couture secured his services as a training partner leading in to his fight against Lesnar at UFC 91 last month.

He is a three-time All-American in wrestling and a two-time All-American in football out of Western State College in Gunnison, Colorado. Carwin has thus far lived up to the tremendous hype since his inaugural appearance for the promotion, during which he finished Christian Wellisch with a punch just 44 seconds into their encounter at UFC 84: “Ill Will” in May.

Shane Carwin has not made it into the second round of any (10) of his professional mixed martial arts fights. In fact, Carwin fights have AVERAGED just one minute each. Insanity. He is coming off a 91-second destruction of the previously unbeaten Neil Wain at UFC 89 back in October.

Gonzaga (10-3) earned a heavyweight title shot with four-straight victories to open his UFC career, including his head kick knockout of Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic, but was defeated by Randy Couture via third-round TKO in the main event of UFC 74 in August 2007. After dropping his second-straight fight to Fabricio Werdum early this year, Gonzaga rebounded with a first-round submission of Justin McCully at UFC 86 and a first-round knockout of Josh Hendrick at UFC 91 in November.

The March bout marks a significant step up in competition for Carwin and the winner of the matchup will move significantly closer to a heavyweight title shot.

For the third year in a row, the Ultimate Fighting Championship® is heading back to Columbus, Ohio. The UFC® announced today that the world’s premier fight organization will travel back to Columbus, Ohio for UFC 96, live from the Nationwide Arena on Saturday, March 7, 2009.

The UFC first arrived in Columbus for UFC 68 in March 2007 for one historic night as Randy Couture won the heavyweight crown for an unprecedented third time as he beat Tim Sylvia. The show’s gate, which surpassed $3 million, set a Nationwide Arena record; the 19,000 fans who saw the event live set a record for the highest North American attendance figure for a mixed martial arts event.

Last March, the UFC returned to Columbus as 15,300 people watched Anderson Silvasuccessfully defend his middleweight title against then PRIDE champion Dan Henderson. The star-studded matchup grossed a gate of $2.2 million at Nationwide

UFC 96 will be available live on pay-per-view on iN DEMAND, DIRECTV, DISH Network, TVN, Bell ExpressVu, Shaw Communications and Viewer’s Choice Canada

MAIN CARD (PPV - 10pm ET)

* Quinton Jackson vs. Keith Jardine
* Matt Hamill vs. Mark Munoz
* Matt Brown vs. Pete Sell
* Shane Carwin vs. Gabriel Gonzaga
* Gray Maynard vs. Jim Miller

PRELIMINARY CARD (unaired)

* Ryan Madigan vs. Tamdan McCrory
* Jason Day vs. Kendall Grove
* Tim Boetsch vs. Jason Brilz
* Mike Patt vs. Brandon Vera
* Shane Nelson vs. Aaron Riley

UFC 96 Results

Televised Main Card

• Quinton “Rampage” Jackson def. Keith Jardine via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
• Shane Carwin def. Gabriel Gonzaga via knockout (punch) at 1:09 round 1
• Matt Brown def. Pete Sell via TKO (strikes) at 1:32 of round 1
• Matt Hamill def. Mark Munoz via knockout (head kick) at 3:53 of round 1
• Gray Maynard def. Jim Miller via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

Preliminary Card

• Tamdan McCrory def. Ryan Madigan via TKO (strikes) at 3:35 of round 1
• Kendall Grove def. Jason Day via TKO (strikes) at 1:32 of round 1
• Jason Brilz def. Tim Boetsch via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
• Brandon Vera def. Mike Patt via TKO (leg kicks) at 1:27 of round 2
• Shane Nelson def. Aaron Riley via TKO (strikes) at 0:44 of round 1

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