Bellator 162: “Shlemenko vs. Grove” comes to FedEx Forum in Memphis, Tenn. on Oct. 21, 2016. The main event sees former middleweight champion Alexander Shlemenko looking to relaunch his Bellator career by taking on Kendall Grove.
“Storm” Shlemenko once had a 13 fight win streak which spanned from 2011 to 2014, during which time he knocked out Maiquel Falcao to win the vacant middleweight title. For a time he seemed to be nigh invulnerable.
Back to back losses to Tito Ortiz and Brandon Halsey changed that perception, the latter of which cost him the title.
Former Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 3 winner Kendall Grove steps into the mix at an ideal time on a two fight win streak, both of which come by way of knockout. He faces a Shlemenko returning after over a year outside Bellator due to a drug test failure.
Grove recently talked about his goal of making former champ Shlemenko his third straight win and earning another Bellator title shot in the process — and he’s incredibly fired up about this fight.
“The end is near you know. Camp is almost done, big fight coming up, me and ‘Juice Monkey’ — ‘Mr. Testosterone’ himself. Tough fighter man, he hits hard and he’s going to try to put me away. Every fighter is gonna try to put me away but, he’s a former champ and I can’t wait.”
Grove is not afraid to talk trash about his opponents doping but even when he’s joking around about Shlemenko it’s obvious he takes his fighting skills seriously.
“Last time he was 50-to-1 and God knows if he was still doing it in Russia (when) he fought in M-1. I expect a tough fight, I expect a game opponent, he’s a dangerous opponent and I’m excited for it. He woke me up and set me at the edge of my seat this whole training (camp). I definitely don’t want to spinning back fist my jaw into the third row at the beautiful FedEx arena! I want to eat some barbecue afterwards and it would suck trying to blend that shit up and drink it through a straw.”
He’s not letting Shlemenko off the hook that easily though and suggests that he could easily level the playing field.
“I should just fucking shoot up as much shit as possible and then roll the dice. If I get caught fuck it go fight in Australia, go fight somewhere overseas. Why not? Everyone else is doing it — and by everyone else I mean him! It is what it is. He found a loophole, he got out of it, and more power to him. At the end of the day we’ve got a fight scheduled, he’s not suspended any more, and let’s hope his testosterone level is down. If not fuck it we’ll still fight, I don’t care.”
Grove has another offer to keep things fair between the two of them by volunteering for extra drug testing.
“I hope Bellator and the commission are taking shit seriously and test him. Honestly I’m down to do blood and urine right now. I’m down to do it the week of the fight, I’m down to do it right before my fight, I’m down to do it right after. Please believe when I get there I’m gonna fucking say something about it. Hopefully with a main event I think we should be drug tested. I know every other time I was a main event I got drug tested.”
Putting all speculation on whether or not Shlemenko will fight clean aside there’s one test Grove wants to pass more than all of the lab tests.
“It took me 30 plus fights but I finally found that power, I finally found how to use my talent, my length, my size, my reach. Alexander poses a test. Joey Beltran was a test, I passed it. Kiko France was a test I passed it. Shlemenko’s another test. He offers a different game, a different stand-up. He was a former champion. He’s knocked guys out with body shots. He throws that liver kick a lot. I’ve been working on that so let’s see if it pays off.”
As a former competitor on The Ultimate Fighter and fellow Middleweight, I asked Grove for his thoughts on the passing of Josh Samman on October 5.
“My prayers go out to his family. I’m shocked and at a loss for words. It’s been a shitty one year. The loss of Kimbo (Slice), Kevin Randleman, (Ryan) Jimmo, Jordan (Parsons), I’ve gotten to train with Jordan at Alliance — great kid. That one hit me, Randleman hit me, Kimbo hit me, because I’ve personally trained with all of them. It sucks man — gone too soon! It’s God’s will you know. I like to think they are in a better place. Selfishly we want them to be here with us, but at the end of the day that’s the outcome for everyone.”
In an interesting turn of coincidence though Kimbo’s son Kevin “Baby Slice” Ferguson also fights on this show. Grove looks forward to meeting with him and passing along a few words.
“I’ve never met him before but I’m going to introduce myself and tell him what his dad went with me. I got to train with him out in Vegas, got to meet the REAL Kimbo Slice, and he was a cool-ass motherfucker. He was just like one of the boys. When I first met him he had that like ‘oh shit’ persona like ‘Oh fuck man did you see that street fight? Is he an asshole? Is he gonna be a dick?’ Nah dude, he was like an open book. He was a great guy and there’s one less cool guy in the world since he left.”
The always colorful and outspoken Kendall “Da Spyder” Grove is one cool motherf–ker himself and he’s ready to show the world his personality again in the main event.
“Come October 21st in the beautiful Memphis, Tennessee we’re going to go head to head and we’re gonna see who’s the fucking man.”
Complete audio of our interview is below and complete Bellator MMA coverage can be found right here on fight night.