Last night's UFC 103 event in Dallas was not concluded by press time. Today's column will touch on some high profile MMA news and events that occurred earlier in the week. Next Sunday's column will include exclusive Octagon-side coverage of UFC 103.

Last Wednesday there was an entertaining night of fights with a young talent laden UFC Fight Night. Each of the four televised fights offered great back and forth action. The event delivered a clear big winner and a fighter to look out for.

The biggest winner of the night was lightweight, Gray Maynard. With his victory over Roger Huerta, the undefeated Maynard cemented himself as a top lightweight contender. Maynard's only non-victory wasn't really a loss at all.

MMA followers may remember that two years ago during a bout, Maynard knocked himself out when body slamming his opponent, Rob Emerson. Not knowing Maynard was knocked out, Emerson tapped out due to injury he sustained from the slam. The bout was ruled a no contest and neither fighter won.

The fighter who rose from the UFC Fight Night as the fighter to look out for was Carlos "The Natural Born Killer" Condit. The former WEC welterweight champion transferred to the UFC after the WEC decided to go small and dissolved its welterweight division.

After losing his UFC debut, the much vaunted Condit had a lot of pressure to win at Wednesday's event. Condit's performance against his opponent, Jake Ellenberger, was masterful. He displayed incredible resiliency by weathering a knockdown, a tight brabo choke attempt, and two guillotine chokes.

Seeing him escape from these submission attempts was a sight to behold. Condit's perseverance and sound technical defense puts him in the category of "fighters who just cannot be finished."

There was a pretty big announcement this week. Mixed martial arts will be coming back to free broadcast TV. CBS will be airing a live Strikeforce MMA event on November 7th. Headlining the event will be world number one heavyweight, Fedor Emelianenko as he faces undefeated former EliteXC fighter and current Strikeforce contender, Brett "The Grim" Rogers.

More news from Strikeforce was released this week. Its middleweight champion, Cung Le, will be relinquishing his title. The super-popular fighter signed another movie deal that would require months away from the fighting arena.

The vacated Strikeforce middleweight title will be up for grabs on the Nov. 7th CBS event. Tabbed to fight for the title are former EliteXC welterweight champion, Jake Shields and mixed martial artist/ MTV personality, Jason "Mayhem" Miller.

Cung Le's move from the cage to the stage isn't the only such occurrence that has thrown a wrench into an MMA organization's plans.

The UFC's Quinton "Rampage" Jackson was recently tabbed to reprise Mr. T's character, B.A. Baracus, in the movie version of the 1980's television show, The A-Team. This December, Rampage was to fight Rashad Evans at the conclusion of The Ultimate Fighter 10 reality show, a show that they're both the coaches and stars of. In fact, the bout was booked for Rampage's hometown of Memphis, TN.

Much to the UFC's chagrin, all of these plans were shot when Jackson decided to take the once in a lifetime offer to be a movie star.

Moves to the silver screen and television are becoming more common for MMA fighters, as they're being viewed as the hottest new thing. The UFC has had many competitors over the years. One must wonder who their toughest one has been: PRIDE Fighting Championships, Affliction MMA, or Hollywood.

David Estrada Jr. is a Mixed Martial Arts columnist for the Port Arthur News. he can be e-mailed at DavidEstrada@DavidEstrada.com