UFC will host its first ever grappling tournament in conjunction with the Grappler's Quest at the 2009 UFC Fan Expo taking place July 10th and 11th at the MandalayBay Convention Center. The tournament is expected to be the largest submission, grappling, and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu tournament in history. Bill Cooper, Ulysses Gomez, Jeff Glover, Vinicius Magalhaes, Fredson Paixao, Rumina Sato and Joe Stevenson will take part in grappling superfights as part of the weekend's Grapplers Quest tournament. On Friday, July 10th, "The Ultimate Fighter 8" cast member Magalhaes will meet an opponent yet to be determined. The day's main event will see Gomez, a four-time Palace Fighting Championship veteran and multiple-time grappling champion, meet Shooto legend and 40-fight MMA veteran Sato.

 

On Saturday, WEC contender and four-time Brazilian jiu-jitsu world champion Paixao meets 22-time Grapplers Quest champion Glover. Additionally, UFC lightweight contender Stevenson, who recently defeated Nate Diaz on the main card of June's The Ultimate Fighter 9 Finale, will meet Bill Cooper, a 22-year-old jiu-jitsu black belt that has won 24 Grapplers Quest titles.

 

“For fans of the ground game, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see some of the world’s premier grapplers in one place competing against each other,” said UFC President Dana White.

 

The grappling superfights are just one of several activities programmed for the first UFC Fand Expo, which also features autograph opportunities, training sessions and product demonstrations. Over 40 Ultimate Fighting Championship, WEC, former Pride, and Hall of Fame fighters such as Nate Diaz, Efrain Escudero, Brian Bowles, Renzo and Royce Gracie, Clay Guida and Josh Koscheck will be signing autographs at UFC Fan Expo.  In addition, the official UFC Octagon Girls Arianny Celeste, Edith Labelle, and Logan Stanton will also be signing autographs in the UFC booth. 

 

On Friday July 10th from 11:00am to 12:00pm, Wayne "The Pocket Rocket" McCullough will take the stage at UFC Fan Expo to show visitors some of the boxing training and techniques that earned him a Silver Medal in the Olympics and made him the WBC World Champion. McCullough will also speak to the crowd about his experience both boxing and practicing Mixed Martial Arts.


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