Event: UFC 99: The Comeback Date: June 13, 2009 Venue: Lanxess Arena in Cologne, Germany Broadcast: Pay-Per-View via Tape Delay

The Ultimate Fighting Championship for the first time lands in Germany with UFC 99 on June 13. Headlining the fight card at the Lanxess Arena in Cologne, is a 195-pound catchweight bout between former UFC middleweight champion Rich Franklin and former Pride 205-pound champ Wanderlei Silva.

Franklin came up on the losing end of a split decision against Dan Henderson in January, and is now set for a retribution match against “The Axe Murderer.”

If Wanderlei is able to get past Franklin, the inevitable outcome is a match between him and Anderson soon afterward, despite consensus (even Wanderlei’s own) that he should wait in line alongside other competitors for his rightful crack at Anderson’s throne.

Even if Wanderlei doesn’t win, on what will soon be considered “grudge match” pretense alone, these two seem destined to fight. Recently, Wanderlei commented on former Chute Boxe teammate Rafael Cordeiro training Anderson Silva for an upcoming match, and considered that fine. He stated that he had no problems with any such thing, echoing that his relationship with Rafael and many of his former Chute Boxe teammates is still strong.

Undefeated heavyweight prospect Cain Velasquez (5-0) Vs. mixed martial arts veteran Heath Herring (28-14).

Heath Herring “The Texas Crazy Horse” has not seen action since a unanimous decision loss to Brock Lesnar at UFC 87: “Seek and Destroy” back in August 2008. He sustained a serious eye injury during the fight, which required him to remain on the sidelines for the remainder of the 2009 fight season.

Herring has had mixed results, losing three fights and winning two. He has gone the distance in all five of those fights. Drawing a fighter with a strong wrestling background who keeps the pedal to the metal throughout the fight such as Velasquez is going to be difficult to handle.

However, Herring has been in against the best in the business and is very capable wherever the fight ends up.

This is a big fight for Cain. If he can get past Herring–and looks good doing it–he’ll definitely be in title contention. But Herring’s no walklinks. He’s fought everybody, and I mean everybody in MMA, and he brings a tremendous experience advantage into the Octagon against the 26 year old Velasquez.

Britians own John Hathaway returns to the UFC for his second time in the Octagon. He will face the debuting Rick Story.

The UFC has long been working on other territories across the globe—including Mexico, the Philippines, France, Dubai, Australia, and several other territories—so it is likely that there will be several other announcements of expansion in the near future.

MAIN CARD

Rich Franklin vs. Wanderlei Silva
Mike Swick vs. Ben Saunders
Cain Velasquez vs. Heath Herring
Coal Uno vs. Spencer Fisher
Marcus Davis vs. Dan Hardy

PRELIMINARY CARD

Paul Taylor vs. Peter Sobotta
Justin Buchholz vs. Terry Etim
Dale Hartt vs. Denis Siver
Roli Delgado vs. Paul Kelly
Denis Stojnic vs. Stefan Struve
Mustapha al Turk vs. Todd Duffee
John Hathaway vs. Rick Story

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