The UFC Holds Onto its Ultimate Fighter Winners Until the Last Possible Minute
The winners of the ultimate fighter have gone on to do some impressive things. Several have fought for titles and three (Matt Serra, Forrest Griffin, and Rashad Evans) have gone on to win titles. It is not often that the UFC drop TUF champions.
Kendall Grove was let go recently by President Dana White. Grove had no ill will toward the UFC and even tweeted “Thank u UFC for a lot of Good memories. Respect to all the staff at zuffa for always treating me like family.” This was a classy move from Grove.
Grove joins Travis Lutter and Efrain Escudero as the only champions to be let go by the UFC.
It was time that Grove be let go. He has lost four of his last six fights. Boring fighting can often be Grove’s weakness. His last two fights against Demian Maia and Tim Boetsch were both fights that drew many yawns from the crowd. If Grove wants to get back in the UFC, he needs to step up the pace in his strategy.
Zuffa is moving forward with exciting fighters, more weight classes, and bigger crowds. These fans don’t pay hard earned money to watch fighters like Grove. However, there is still hope for him. Grove should go on to fight in a few minor league fights. With a few wins he may get signed back onto the UFC roster. When he gets back, I hope that his eyes find this article. Stop being boring and start pushing the fight pace.