The Ultimate Fighter Season 3 Middleweight Winner Kendall Grove has got all the technique to be champ and he’s only 24. Grove started training in Hawaii but has now relocated himself under the tutelage of Tito Ortiz and the Team Punishment camp. As he eyes the UFC Middleweight prize, his humility has kept him from getting in way over his head as he climbs the ladder to the top. Hawaii boys have a lot of pride and an ability to brawl to back it up.


Kendall Grove Fighting Style Analysis – Strengths

Being a TUF winner doesn’t catapult any fighter to an elite status. A TUF winner announces their legitimacy in being in the organization, yet many more dues are yet to be paid. Kendall Grove knows this all too well and understands he needs many more fights in the UFC to become a refined and elite fighter. Such humility will constantly motivate any fighter to become better and better and Grove has shown that in the octagon battlefield. Grove exhibits fantastic ground skill and crisp stand-up technique. His length provides a different approach to the fight game where he can pepper his opponents on his feet, but when on the ground, Grove must use “long-man” Brazilian Jiu-jitsu akin to the Nogueira brothers of Pride. “Long-man” BJJ utilizes in stretching out opponents and applying more “swinging” submissions instead of the methodical grinding BJJ usually utilized by stockier fighters. If such chemistry is used correctly, Kendall Grove, as of now, may become current champion Anderson Silva’s kryptonite. However, Alan Belcher is no pushover.


Kendall Grove Fighting Style Analysis – Weaknesses

Kendall Grove isn’t truly green to the sport of MMA, but he’s still a young fighter with a little below average amount of fighting experience. His strong heart and tough as nails attitude from time to time get him in trouble when he ends up taking more shots than most fighters would want. This ends up slowing him down and disconcerting him during a fight which concludes in, at times, getting KO’d. However, such holes can be covered with more experience and proper coaching to point out such faults. Fighting Alan Belcher will become a very good test to be able to work on attaining the clinch and imposing a strategy on a fairly precise striker in Alan Belcher. If Grove is successful, the gap in his game will soon close as he fights higher echelon fighters in the UFC.


Clash with Alan Belcher

Kendall Grove has to come in calm and with a strategy to become ready for the KO wielding Belcher. Grove has a tendency to explode on opponents, which in some cases is good, but for a counter-puncher like Belcher, Grove might find himself running into a punch that could send him reeling. If Grove can use his height advantage to pepper Belcher and not give in any free shots, Grove can eventually succumb the dangerous Belcher to his inability to go all 3 rounds. Grove’s superior conditioning will give him an opportunity to get Belcher on the ground and eventually a submission win. However, the first round is a toss up for both fighters and any one punch can simply end this fight. The most likely outcome will see Grove attaining a submission victory late in the second or early third round.


- Bardia, BuddyTV Staff Columnist