(Twitter.com/DanaWhite)June 5, 2013 was a special day for MMA as two different North American governments took steps to legalize MMA. Connecticut's legislature voted to regulate MMA and Canada officially made MMA legal.

The Connecticut bill still has to be signed by the governor, but it passed by such a wide margin that a signature is expected. With Connecticut's acceptance of MMA, only Montana and Alaska are unregulated, but they still allow the sport. Professional MMA is still illegal in New York.

Canada's criminal code was vague in its description of MMA. A law from the 19th century made prize fighting illegal. In the 30s, boxing was given an exemption, but MMA technically wasn't allowed. That's right, Georges St-Pierre was breaking the law the many times he fought in his country. They removed the vagueness of the law to ensure MMA was legal all over the MMA-crazy country.

The only state with pending legislation is New York, a fact that UFC president Dana White mentioned on Twitter.

Hey I have a question for everyone, who looks stupid on this map? twitter.com/danawhite/stat…

— Dana White (@danawhite) June 6, 2013

As Kevin Iole noted, legalization in New York doesn't look good for this year. The UFC has poured millions of dollars in lobbying in trying to get the law changed, but they've met resistance based on political and union issues. The UFC is confident that the MMA will be passed if they get a vote, but that may not happen.

"It was supposed to be heard yesterday in conference by the Democrats in the Assembly, but it wasn't," said UFC VP of regulatory affairs Marc Ratner to MMA Fighting. "Next week, it'll be heard. All we want is a vote. If we get out of the conference and have a vote, we'll win. It would be very sad if it gets stuck in committee."

But New York's resistance doesn't dull what happened in Canada and Connecticut on Wednesday.

Remember how Mike Tyson was everywhere at UFC 160? He was cheering on a weigh-in scuffle, congratulating Glover Teixeira, and generally just hanging around the type of fighting he never got to be a part of in MMA. He also stopped in with Fuel TV's Ariel Helwani to talk about what boxing can learn from MMA and how he would do against Royce Gracie. The real winning line? At 2:10, Tyson says what Evander Holyfield's ear tastes like. He follows it up with this sage piece of wisdom.

"My advice, try not to bite anyone's ears, guys."

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(Getty)The UFC announced a ton of fights on Tuesday night, so let's get right to it.

-- Benson Henderson will defend his belt in Milwaukee at the end of August against T.J. Grant at UFC 164. Previously announced fights on that card include Clay Guida vs. Chad Mendes and Frank Mir vs. Josh Barnett.

-- As expected, Chael Sonnen vs. Mauricio "Shogun" Rua's bout will happen. Their fight will be the main event of the first UFC on Fox Sports 1 show on August 17. Urijah Faber will fight Yuri Alcantara on the same card.

-- Former Strikeforce champion Sarah Kaufman will make her UFC debut against Sara McMann at UFC on Fox Sports 1 - 2. Yes, that's an awkward name for an event, but it's a great match-up. Robert "Bubba" McDaniel will also fight Brad Tavares on August 28.

August will be a really busy time for MMA fans. Want to make some early fight predictions? Speak up on Facebook or Twitter.

This is the best thing you'll see all day. John Maguire is fighting Mitch Clarke at UFC 161, and he has plans and an outfit for a walkout to remember, with a catch. Maguire will wear Tobias Fünke-esque shorts to the cage while listening to "Maniac" if he gets 10,000 followers on Twitter. The video above is just a hint of what's to come if you follow Maguire. As of this writing, he's at 9,492 followers. Get him to 10K by following him here.

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• Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson signs with Bellator

(USA Today Sports)Quinton Jackson has found life in MMA after the UFC. He signed with Bellator and TNA professional wrestling. Both entities are backed by Spike TV, and Jackson will appear on both shows. They will also create a reality series to follow him.

He is the second Bellator fighter to get a deal with both Bellator and TNA Wrestling. "King Mo" Lawal also has a contract both for MMA and professional wrestling. The two are both light heavyweights and had a beef years ago. A bout -- or a tag-team partnership? -- could be in their future.

He is joining the 205-lb division that includes Lawal, and fellow UFC veterans Renato "Babalu" Sobral and Vladimir Matyushenko. Other UFC vets who are now in Bellator include Paul Daley, Paul Sass and Matthew Riddle.

Jackson was once the UFC light-heavyweight champ, but left the UFC after he claimed poor treatment by the promotion. He left the organization on a three-fight losing streak, dropping a title bout to Jon Jones, then lost to Ryan Bader and Glover Teixeira.

(Getty)

UFC 161 will be a little shorter than most cards, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira had to pull out of his fight with Mauricio "Shogun" Rua. Though Chael Sonnen did ask for the fight, the UFC announced that they decided to scratch Rua from the card.

With Lil Nog injured, @shogunrua is left opponentless 2 weeks out; #ufc161 will proceed with 11 fights and Shogun will fight on a card soon

— UFC (@ufc) June 4, 2013

Sonnen lobbied for the fight by calling Rua a chicken. A fight between the two of them could still happen. Sonnen had been pushing for a fight with Wanderlei Silva, but knows the value of stepping in at the last minute for a bout. MMA Fighting says the Rua-Sonnen bout could happen in Boston in August.

The UFC also has other plans for Rua. His agent told Globo TV in Brazil that Rua will coach against Nogueira in an upcoming season of the Brazilian "Ultimate Fighter."

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• Fighting words:

UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson already has a shiny gold belt for his UFC championship. On Monday, he received his black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu. Even as fighters win championships, they still covet the black belt because of what it means in how they've progressed in one area of the sport.

The black belt was also special to Henderson's coach, John Crouch. He contacted a wide group of friends, from NFL player Larry Fitzgerald to actor Ed O'Neil, to say congratulations to Henderson. Though the stars are fun to watch, it's particularly moving to hear from Henderson's mom and his wrestling coaches.

Related coverage on Yahoo! Sports:
• Assembly speaker standing in the way of law legalizing MMA in New York
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Pat Healy lost considerable money because of a positive drug test. (Getty)The UFC has decided to follow the lead of the World Anti-Doping Agency and change the way it tests fighters for marijuana. In international fights where the UFC acts as a commission, the detection levels will be at a higher threshold. The commission in Brazil has also decided to change its threshold, meaning that a fighter will have had to use more marijuana to come up positive.

Marc Ratner, the UFC vice president of regulatory affairs, spoke about the change at a meeting of the Nevada State Athletic Commission. According to MMA Junkie, he also encouraged the NSAC to change its levels. Currently, state commissions decide their own levels for fights. Nevada, however, is one of the leading states in regulating MMA. If it changes its threshold, other states would likely follow.

Recently, the UFC has had to deal with several fighters who tested positive for marijuana. Pat Healy lost $130,000 in bonuses to a positive test after UFC 159. Matt Riddle had two positives and was cut from the UFC after the second one. Alex Caceres also tested positive in March. With attitudes and laws changing in the United States about marijuana, fighters being punished for marijuana use made little sense.