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 Silva successfully defend his middleweight title against then PRIDE® champion Dan Henderson. The star-studded matchup grossed a gate of $2.2 million at Nationwide.

Full details on this fight card will be announced very shortly.

Tickets for UFC 96 will go on sale Saturday, December 27 at 10am ET and will be priced at $350, $250, $150, $100, $60 and $35. Tickets are available at all Ticketmaster locations, and by telephone at 800-929-1111 or (614) 431-3600. Tickets also are available for purchase at ufc.com or www.ticketmaster.com.

UFC® Fight Club™ members will have the opportunity to purchase tickets to this event Wednesday, December 24 at 10am PT via the website ufc.com. A special Internet ticket pre-sale will be available to UFC newsletter subscribers Friday, December 26 starting at 10am PT. To access this presale, users must register for the UFC newsletter through ufc.com.

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 for a suggested retail price of $44.95 for standard definition or high-definition broadcasts (where available).