Kendall Grove determined to remain in the UFC
Before Saturday night's "The Ultimate Fighter: Team Rampage vs. Team Forrest" finale main event, "The Ultimate Fighter 3" winner Kendall Grove (10-5 MMA, 4-2 UFC) had openly described the bout as having "loser leaves town" implications.
In the bout, Grove defeated former UFC middleweight champion Evan Tanner (34-8 MMA, 11-6 UFC) via split decision and earned what was arguably the most notable victory of his career.
"Da Spyder" was a guest on Monday's edition of TAGG Radio (
www.taggradio.com), the official radio partner of MMAjunkie.com (
www.mmajunkie.com), and explained why he felt he was fighting for his future in the UFC.
"I was taking at as though I was fighting for my job," Grove said about his effort on Saturday. "And I love my job."
In one of the stranger scores in recent memory, Grove won the fight on two judges' cards 30-26 while a third judge awarded the bout to Tanner, 29-28. Grove felt his split-decision victory should have been unanimous.
"That's what happens when you leave it in the judges' eyes," Grove said. "But I don't know. ... Where I come from, I call that a [expletive] beating."
The 25-year-old Grove entered Saturday's bout looking to recover from two consecutive losses, which he attributed largely to a lack of mental preparation.
"A lot of it was in my mind, my head," Grove explained. "I had to get my head right again. I kind of lost sight of why I was fighting."
Although he received no official word that a loss could mean his parting ways with the UFC, Grove decided to approach the fight as such in an effort to improve his mental focus.
"I went back to Hawaii (and) made a lot of changes in my life," Grove said. "I knew I had to come back. This fight I had more dedication, more focus. Everyone was telling me I had a contract, but you never know. Anything can happen."
Although he was only in the fifth fight of his nine-fight contract, Grove admits had he lost to Tanner he would have had no qualms about being released by the UFC.
"I believe in performance," Grove said. "If I am not doing it, then I wouldn't be mad if they cut me. If I would have lost this fight with Evan, that would be three (consecutive) losses, [and] the last two, I didn't look too impressive."
The Hawaiian did look impressive against Tanner, however, landing vicious elbows and knees throughout the fight, including a spectacular flying-knee while defending a single-leg takedown.
"I have seen [the flying knee] done in training, and the first really unbelievable one I've seen (in a fight) was Yves Edwards'," Grove said. "I see myself in that situation all the time, when guys have the single. Once the opportunity came, I took it and almost jumped out of the cage."
Despite the seemingly dominant performance, Grove said Tanner's strength and determination proved a stern challenge.
"I'll tell you the truth, I was tired," Grove said. "I came into the fight well-prepared, but I used up a lot of strength defending the takedown. ... He was trying to take me down the whole time. I give him that; he was strong."
Now that he is back in the win column, Grove recognizes that every performance is critical to stay in the UFC, the organization which he considers the equivalent of baseball's major leagues.
"This sport evolves every day," Grove said. "And where I am at right now, you've got to be good. ... If I can't hang, then I deserve to go back down (to the minors)."