The UFC has officially begun announcing matches for UFC 86, which will take place on July 5, 2008 at the Mandalay Events Center in Las Vegas. Here’s the official card that’s been announced so far on UFC.com:

• Light Heavyweight Championship: Quinton “Rampage” Jackson v. Forrest Griffin
• Lightweight bout: Joe “Daddy” Stevenson v. Gleison Tibau
• Heavyweight bout: Frank Mir v. Justin McCully
• Melvin Guillard v. Dennis Siver

In addition, the following matches have been rumored or announced by outside sources, but not confirmed by UFC.com:

• Middleweight bout: Patrick Côté v. Ricardo Almeida
• Welterweight bout: Josh Koscheck v. Chris Lytle
• Lightweight bout: Cory Hill v. Justin Buchholz

Of course, the most anticipated bout will be the main event, where “Rampage” Jackson will square off against Forest Griffin. I’ll go ahead and pick Jackson to win this fight, but this could be his toughest test yet. While I think Jackson will take the fight, I wouldn’t be shocked to see Forest Griffin walk out of Mandalay Bay as champion. I do think this fight will go all five rounds.

The Frank Mir/Justin McCulley fight should also be good–look for Mir to continue his winning ways and tap out McCulley in this one.

The sleeper fight of the night could be Patrick Côté v. Ricardo Almeida. Côté has won four fights in a row since his loss to Travis Lutter, and Almeida is most definitely back at full strength after nearly four years out from the sport. This one is really tough to pick, but my gut says Almeida because of his experience. Even though he was out for nearly four years, let’s not forget that Almeida has won seven fights in a row dating back to 2002. I’m definitely jacked for this one.