Yesterday, the UFC announced it has partnered with Grapplers Quest to host the first ever UFC sponsored grappling tournament.

Held in conjunction with the historic UFC 100 event, the tournament will be held on July 10 and 11 at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas, Nevada, as part of the previously announced UFC Fan Expo.

Open to the first 1,500 registered competitors, the announcement stated the UFC expects the event to "be the largest submission, grappling and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu tournament in history".

The Grapplers Quest event will award "thousands of dollars in prizes" across multiple divisions that include men, women and children from all skill levels.

Registration is currently open for the event. Entry fees start at $89 to register in one division and include a free two-day pass to the UFC Fan Expo – a $50 value.

The tournament schedule includes all adult, no-gi divisions and superfights on Friday, July 10, while all children, teen and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu divisions will be contested on Saturday, July 11.

Grapplers Quest held its first event in 1997, the first ever submission grappling tournament contested in the US. Current UFC fighters Mark Bocek, Kenny Florian, Matt Hughes, Denis Kang, Eliot Marshall, Mike Massenzio, Kurt Pellegrino, Matt Riddle and Brandon Vera have all competed in previous editions of Grapplers Quest.

The Grapplers Quest tournament is the latest addition to the UFC Fan Expo's growing two-day lineup of events. The organization has also planned meet-and-greets with several current and historic stars of ZUFFA-owned organizations as well as mixed martial arts demonstrations and training sessions.

Registration for the grappling tournament is available at Grapplers Quest's official website, while tickets for the UFC Fan Expo can be purchased the event's official website. Ultimate VIP Packages for the event have already sold out.

During Thursday's pre-UFC 97 press conference in Montreal, UFC President Dana White announced plans for the promotion to visit Boston, New York and Toronto by 2010. All three cities do not currently regulate mixed martial arts but a push is on the legalize the sport so the UFC could hold events in each city by next year.

UFC lightweight Kenny Florian and UFC Vice President of Regulation and Governmental Affairs Marc Ratner, among others, were in Massachusetts Thursday to encourage the state to pass legislation that would pave the way for the UFC to hold an event in Boston before year end.

"The panel made a great case for what I think is pretty straightforward," Senator James Timilty, the chairman of the public safety and homeland security committee, was quoted as saying by the Boston Herald. "The sport is exploding in popularity, but it is existing right now unregulated (in Massachusetts). Boxing has been regulated for decades. It's about time that we've made the adjustment."

Provided the sport soon becomes regulated, a UFC event is tentatively scheduled for November 21 at the TD Banknorth Garden in Boston.

A fight remains to have regulations approved in Ontario and New York, but White was confident at the press conference that the UFC will soon be welcomed in both Toronto and New York, announcing plans to hold events in both cities by early next year.

White also indicated during the press conference that the UFC will soon hold its first ever event in France.

According to a new posting on BJPenn.com, UFC Lightweight Champion BJ Penn will defend his lightweight title against number one contender Kenny Florian in the headlining bout of UFC 101 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on August 8. The report states that Florian has already signed the bout agreement, and Penn's own signing was imminent. It will be the first time the UFC Lightweight Title has been contested in 15 months, since Penn defeated Sean Sherk by TKO at UFC 84 last May. Florian has won his last six fights, including five by stoppage, but hasn't competed since his first-round submission of Joe Stevenson at UFC 91 in November.

If the Penn vs. Florian report is accurate, it would mean that two of the UFC's five championship titles could potentially be on the line in the month of August. A middleweight title match between Anderson Silva and Demian Maia may also be added to UFC 102 in Portland, Oregon, on August 29.

UFC lightweight fighter Roger "El Matador" Huerta will leave the UFC after one more fight to pursue his acting career, according to an interview with Sherdog.com.

"The UFC is my home and it is my family and eventually I'll come back," Huerta told Sherdog.com. "Pursuing the modeling and acting thing, that's kind of where I'm at right now. The fighting will always be there. I'll always have that in me. The truth is I've been fighting my whole life for everything, and this to me, is something else."

Huerta, 25, caught the acting bug while playing a character called "Miguel Caballero Rojo" on the upcoming video game-based live action motion picture "Tekken".

"I saw that you have to dedicate as much as you do to training for a fight as you do for an acting role and I'm intrigued by that," Huerta said. "I'm 25 years old. I see Chuck Liddell and Randy Couture and they didn't really hit their primes till their thirties. I'm only going to be young so long and I know that movies and agencies and what not want the young look."

Huerta has already signed a three-movie development deal with Lionsgate Films.

Huerta (20-2-1) won his UFC debut at UFC 63 in September 2006 and continued to win five more fights before losing to Kenny Florian last August at UFC 87.

According to the article, Huerta recently turned down a new five-fight contract with the UFC and will fulfill his one remaining fight left by December.

We're glad to be back to give you news and reports of MMA events around the world. Here are the results for UFC 91 which took place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on last Saturday, November 15, 2008:

• Brock Lesnar def. Randy "The Natural" Couture by TKO (strikes) at 3:07 of Round 2

• Kenny "Ken Flo" Florian def. Joe "Daddy" Stevenson by submission (rear naked choke) at 4:03 of Round 1

• Gabriel "Napao" Gonzaga def. "Heavy" Josh Hendricks by TKO (strikes) at 1:01 of Round 1

• Demian Maia def. Nate "Rock" Quarry by submission (rear naked choke) at 2:13 of Round 1

• Dustin Hazelett def. Tamdan "The Barn Cat" McCrory by submission (armbar) at 3:59 of Round 1

• Aaron Riley def. Jorge Gurgel by unanimous decision

• Jeremy Stephens def. Rafael dos Anjos by TKO (strikes) at 0:39 of Round 3

• Mark Bocek def. Alvin "Kid" Robinson by submission (rear naked choke) at 3:16 of Round 3

• Matt "The Immortal" Brown def. Ryan "The Tank Engine" Thomas by submission (armbar) at 0:57 of Round 2

Not before and not since Dan Henderson won Pride Fighting Championships 183-pound and 205-pound titles has a fighter in a major organization held two title belts in two weight classes simultaneously, but it appears the current UFC 155-pound champion, BJ Penn, will try to do that very thing as he sets his sites on the Welterweight Champion Georges St. Pierre later this year.

But what does that mean for the 155-pound weight class and the Lightweight Championship if Penn is off fighting for another title in a different division?

"BJ's not vacating the 155-pound title," according to UFC President Dana White following UFC 87 in Minnesota last weekend.

Of course this puts possibly the deepest weight class in all the UFC on hold for an indefinite amount of time as Penn and St. Pierre aren't likely to clash before late December and the lightweight title could be out of the picture until some time deep into 2009.

The reigning UFC Lightweight Champion feels confident in his abilities to defend both titles if he is able to defeat St. Pierre.

"I'm moving up to the welterweight division and moving down to defend the lightweight title," said Penn.

Kenny Florian, who defeated Roger Huerta at UFC 87, is most likely next in line to face Penn for the 155-pound crown, but he doesn't plan on waiting around for a title shot. Instead he will try to compete again later this year against a different opponent, but he's still not sold on Penn retaining the title the entire time.

"I know BJ's game plan is to win the Welterweight title and defend both belts at the same time. I don't know if Dana's going to allow him to do that," stated Florian. "If he beats GSP is he going to stay in the welterweight division? If he loses it's probably more probable that he'll go back to 155. So I don't know, there's a lot of 'ifs"."

"I want to stay busy. I need it for me for me for my game mentally, physically I want to stay busy. I think it's important. I want to keep making money, I want to keep fighting."

For the time being it appears set that Penn will hold onto the lightweight title while waiting to fight Georges St. Pierre and Florian will look for another fight this year.