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MMA Junkie reports,

The Nevada State Athletic Commission has tentatively approved a Jan. 2 UFC fight date at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. The event presumably would be UFC 108.

When the UFC 107 was scheduled for Memphis, Tennessee many assumed that the next event (presumably in January) would fill the role of the end of the year mega-card, which normally takes place in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Yet with the UFC's fall scheduling issues the January 2nd card may not be a star studded affair fans have grown used to. Most likely the winner of Machida vs. Rua will defend their title at 108 but with Rampage vs. Rashad stuck in a holding pattern and Forrest reeling from a knockout loss it seems that the UFC could be fishing for a contender. Something they already did with Rua, which angered some fans The most likely candidate for a title shot at 205lbs. would be Rich Franklin, if he defeats Vitor Belfort at UFC 103. 

The middleweight division will most likely still be on hold unless Anderson Silva agrees to fight Marquardt or Henderson without a number one contender match. If Marquardt and Henderson do fight at UFC 105, as has been rumored, then January 2nd would be a quick turnaround to face the #1 pound-for-pound MMA fighter on the planet.

The same temporal issues will most likely prevent the winner of Lesnar vs. Carwin from defending the heavyweight title at 108 as well.

The lightweight division title will be decided at UFC 107 so that rules out the winner of Penn vs. Sanchez as well.

The status of St. Pierre's injury/rehab is still unknown and with Mike Swick dropping out of his number one contender match against Martin Kampmann at 103, UFC officials would be hard pressed to find a contender for January. 

Most likely UFC 108 will be headlined by a light heavyweight title defense. From there, its up to the UFC to find a stable of top-notch fights to fill the card. Luckily for us they are pretty good at this sort of thing. Right Bob Arum?

In reality the UFC's schedule has been thrown into a feast or famine funk due to UFC 96 and UFC 100. UFC 96 featured the super fight between welterweight champion, Georges St. Pierre and lightweight champion B.J. Penn. That fight shut down both divisions for several months. Zuffa also stacked their centennial event, which has contributed to the UFC's fall schedule headache.

Hopefully next year we can get back on a regular system.