Just think of the captions that a lesser journalist would come up with. Seriously, just think it this time.
You had to see this one coming. Three weeks out from his unanimous decision defeat to Tim Boetsch at UFC 130, the UFC has decided to part ways with TUF 3 winner Kendall Grove. After defeating Ed Herman to win The Ultimate Fighter 3 back in 2006, Grove has gone 6-6 in the UFC, including losses to Patrick Cote, Mark Munoz and Demian Maia. Aside from Ed Herman, the only fighter that Kendall Grove holds a win over who is still fighting in the UFC is Alan Belcher, who he defeated by D’Arce choke back at UFC 69 in April of 2007.
Kendall Grove is the third winner of The Ultimate Fighter to get fired by the UFC, joining the likes of Travis Lutter and Efrain Escudero. Interestingly enough, Grove is the first TUF winner to be released from the UFC simply due to poor performance. Escudero was released by the UFC after missing weight by four pounds before his loss to Charles Oliveira. Meanwhile, Travis Lutter was released by the UFC after, well…being Travis Lutter. Not to mention any names, but some fighters should take this firing as a wakeup call: Winning The Ultimate Fighter does not guarantee job security.