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On This Day in MMA History…June 21

(RIP Evan Tanner.)

Well, it wasn’t the most MMA history-steeped day, but there were a few noteworthy events that took place on this day in MMA.

The Ultimate Fighter 7 Finale went down 3 years ago.

Evan Tanner Post Fight Interview
Tags: Evan Tanner Post Fight Interview

Why it Matters:

The event marked the final fight of former UFC middleweight champion Evan Tanner before his untimely death in the Paolo Verde, California desert. In spite of a close split-decision loss to Kendall Grove on the card, Tanner would give perhaps his last and most harrowing interview that provided an eerie foreboding soundbite that fans will forever make wonder if it was in reference to his career or his troubled life. “I’m feeling off, flat, can’t move. Maybe it’s…you know…Maybe my day is done.”

The event also saw the first TUF winner with no professional fighting experience crowned. Amir Sadollah, who has since racked up a respectable 5-2 record in the Octagon defeated the more seasoned former Arizona State wrestling standout CB Dollaway by first round submission.

One of the night’s winners, Diego Sanchez, would make an ill-fated decision he may now regret in retrospective. Following his win over Luigi Florvanti, Diego announced that he would be dropping to light weight to take a run at a title in the lighter class. After racking up a pair of wins over Joe Stevenson and CLay Guida, “The Nightmare,” as he was known back then, lost via decisive fifth-round TKO stoppage to then-lightweight champion BJ Penn at UFC 107. After a one-year stint as a lightweight, the TUF 1 middleweight winner decided to move back up to welterweight where he has since compiled a 2-1 record with a loss to John Hathaway and a pair of wins over Martin Kampmann and Paulo Thiago.

(RIP Evan Tanner.)

Well, it wasn’t the most MMA history-steeped day, but there were a few noteworthy events that took place on this day in MMA.

The Ultimate Fighter 7 Finale went down 3 years ago.

Evan Tanner Post Fight Interview
Tags: Evan Tanner Post Fight Interview

Why it Matters:

Iroquois MMA Championships went down 3 years ago.

Why it Matters:

The event, which took place just outside Hamilton, Ontario, Canada on native land saw Gary Goodridge fight at home in Ontario, Canada for the first and last time in his career before he retired. Although the bout didn’t go as planned for ”Big Daddy,” as he lost by unanimous decision, the fact that fans in his home province got to watch the Barrie, Ontario native compete live before he called it a career more than made up for it.

Ring of Fire 5: Predators went down 9 years ago.

Why it matters:

(Back before Diego proved he was more than just a pretty face.)

The otherwise un-newsworthy event saw a 20-year old fighter take the first step in an impressive career. Diego Sanchez defeated fellow MMA newcomer Michael Johnson (no, not the TUF 12 runner-up) at the event that took place at the Radisson North Graystone Castle hotel in Denver, Colorado. Thanks to his appearance on TUF 1 and his ferocious fighting Style, Sanchez (23-4) has grown to become a favorite of UFC fans.

Pancrase: Advance 8 went down 13 years ago.

Why it matters:

UFC 13 tournament winner Guy Mezger faced off with kickboxing juggernaut Semmy Schilt in a moneyweight bout. Although Mezger would lose via TKO at the 13:15 mark of the first round, the fight would go down as one of his most memorable (for those who have seen it) of Mezgar’s storied career.

And Now He’s Fired: Kendall Grove

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.

Just think of the captions that a lesser journalist would come up with. Seriously, just think it this time.

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.

TUF 3 Winner Kendall Grove Released From UFC

Filed under: UFCThree weeks after dropping his second straight fight, Kendall Grove has been released by the UFC.

The Season 3 winner of “The Ultimate Fighter” broke the news on his Facebook page. Grove suffered a unanimous decision loss to Tim Boets…

Filed under: UFC

Three weeks after dropping his second straight fight, Kendall Grove has been released by the UFC.

The Season 3 winner of “The Ultimate Fighter” broke the news on his Facebook page. Grove suffered a unanimous decision loss to Tim Boetsch at UFC 130 last month. Before that, he dropped a decision to Demian Maia at the TUF 12 Finale in December.

He becomes the third TUF winner to be cut by the promotion. Season 8 winner Efrain Escudero and Season 4 winner Travis Lutter also were released by the organization.

Grove (12-9, 1 NC, 7-6 UFC), from Hawaii, has fallen into a rough stretch in the UFC’s middleweight division the last year, dropping three of his last four fights. His only win was a split decision over Goran Reljic at UFC 116 last July. He did, however, have a Fight of the Night performance in a loss to Mark Munoz at UFC 112.

Grove has not won consecutive fights since a split decision over the late Evan Tanner at the TUF 7 Finale in June 2008 and a TKO of Jason Day at UFC 96 in March 2009.

After winning TUF 3 with a unanimous decision victory over Ed Herman in June 2006, Grove won his next two UFC fights. But since that three-fight UFC winning streak, he has been up and down, going 4-6.

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TUF 3 Winner Kendall Grove and Runner-Up Ed Herman Have Unfinished Business

It has been five years since Kendall Grove (12-9 MMA, 7-6 UFC) defeated Ed Herman (22-9 MMA, 5-5 UFC) to capture the Season 3 crown of The Ultimate Fighter.Throughout the season, Herman widely proclaimed that he would be victorious. But what he didn’t …

It has been five years since Kendall Grove (12-9 MMA, 7-6 UFC) defeated Ed Herman (22-9 MMA, 5-5 UFC) to capture the Season 3 crown of The Ultimate Fighter.

Throughout the season, Herman widely proclaimed that he would be victorious. But what he didn’t expect was for the 6’6″ Grove to stop him in his tracks at the show’s finale and claim the six-figure contract.

Since their time on TUF, each man has taken a different path, but they could now be primed to settle their unfinished business.

Herman has suffered back-to-back losses twice in his UFC career and most recently defeated Tim Credeur at the TUF 13 finale to avoid making it six losses in the organization.

“Short Fuse” returned from a 22-month layoff when he faced Credeur and was impressive in doing so as he claimed a first-round knockout.

Prior to that, Herman defeated David Loiseau (UFC 97) and suffered a loss to Aaron Simpson at UFC 102.

Herman currently owns a gym with teammate Ryan Schultz in Colorado and a rematch against a fighter who has owns a victory over him would surely interest him.

After defeating Herman, Grove went on to claim submission victories over Chris Price (UFC: The Final Chapter) and Alan Belcher (UFC 69).

Like Herman, Grove suffered back-to-back losses but rebounded with victories over Jason Day and Evan Tanner.

The Hawaiian is set to refocus his career under the tutelage of coach Justin McCully and while he once defeated Herman, a rematch against him would surely get Grove to happily return to Octagon in the near future.

While Herman and Grove have seen their share of ups and downs, the first fight was an underrated classic and they’d certainly entertain fans for a second time.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Don’t Cut “The Ultimate Fighter” Kendall Grove, UFC, Send Him to Strikeforce

At UFC 130, Kendall “Da Spyder” Grove took on middleweight newcomer Tim “The Barbarian” Boetsch in a preliminary fight aired on Spike TV. After being out-grappled and controlled by Boetsch almost the entire fight, Grove—the winner of season three of The Ultimate Fighter—lost the fight by lopsided unanimous decision, with all three judges scoring the fight 30-27 for his opponent.

The disappointing performance by Grove came on the heels of his uninspiring, unanimous decision loss to Demian Maia at The Ultimate Fighter 12 Finale, and in the UFC, two losses in a row is sometimes enough to give you your walking papers. By that accord, no one should be surprised if Grove is cut from the UFC this week.

But should he be cut? If one looks at his mediocre 7-6 record inside the Octagon, then one might lean towards yes. After all, the UFC is all about housing the very best mixed martial artists in the world, and for a guy who has lost four of his last six fights, there probably isn’t room, even in a relatively shallow middleweight division and even if that fighter once won The Ultimate Fighter.

The UFC, by all their rights, should purge Grove from their active middleweight roster. But Zuffa, the parent company of the UFC, should not let him get away so quickly. Instead, they should make Grove the first UFC fighter to directly crossover to Strikeforce.

When the UFC purchased Strikeforce, Dana White was adamant that there would be no super-fights featuring the best Strikeforce fighters coming over to the UFC while they still had contracts with Showtime.

This shut off all possibilities of superstar Strikeforce champions like Alistair Overeem, Dan Henderson, Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza, Nick Diaz and Gilbert Melendez coming over to the big show, at least for the time being. Of course, once the Strikeforce fighter’s contracts were up with Showtime they were free to cross over, and Jason “Mayhem” Miller became the first one to do so, signing with the UFC just over a month ago.

But at the same time he said this, White also made it known that he wasn’t adverse to doing things the other way, with UFC fighters going to Strikeforce instead. An opportunity has presented itself for Grove to be the torchbearer of this.

Strikeforce, at present, has a relatively shallow middleweight division, especially with losing the personable and marketable Miller. Aside from middleweight kingpin Souza, the heavy-handed Robbie Lawler, American hero Tim Kennedy and the fighter-turned-actor Cung Le, there really isn’t much at 185 pounds in Strikeforce.

If Strikeforce is truly here to stay for at least a few more years, the promotion needs a new influx of middleweights because the fans are getting tired of stale rematches and want new challengers at 185 pounds, especially fighters they know. A UFC veteran like Grove, who is still only 28 years old, would be a good addition and a solid solution to this dilemma.

At 6’6” and only 185 pounds, Grove is a matchup nightmare for most middleweights, even if he has had mixed success in the cage up until this point. As seen in his submission victories over Jake Rosholt and Alan Belcher, and even in his recent loss over Boetsch, Grove’s long limbs have the capability to make fighters tap out at anytime.

And while he has been far from consistent inside the cage—he holds an overall record as a professional mixed martial artist of just 12-9—he has fought and defeated some talented fighters during his career, including the aforementioned Belcher and the late Evan Tanner.

It might not make sense to match him up with some of the top Strikeforce middleweights just yet, but at the very least, Grove would present a good challenge to the young guns trying to make a name for themselves on the Strikeforce Challengers cards.

After spending so many years developing and promoting him, Zuffa should not give up on Grove just now. He is just 28 and still has the opportunity to improve as a mixed martial artist. But it’s become obvious he is not talented enough for the UFC, at least not at this point in his career.

And after seeing Keith Jardine lose four fights in the UFC, win a few in smaller shows, and then take a short-notice (albeit controversial) draw over consensus top-15 light heavyweight Gegard Mousasi, exposing Mousasi’s porous takedown defence in the process, anything can happen in this sport.

So make Grove the first UFC fighter to directly crossover to Strikeforce, and let the chips fall where they may. At the very least, it would be an interesting experiment in seeing just what Zuffa is able to do now that they own the two biggest mixed martial arts promotions in the world.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Falling Action: Best and Worst of UFC 130

Filed under: UFCPerhaps the best thing we can say about UFC 130 is that it’s over. It started out as the event that would finally put the Frankie Edgar-Gray Maynard saga to rest, and it ended up with “Rampage” Jackson in a main event bout that even he …

Filed under: UFC

Perhaps the best thing we can say about UFC 130 is that it’s over. It started out as the event that would finally put the Frankie Edgar-Gray Maynard saga to rest, and it ended up with “Rampage” Jackson in a main event bout that even he wasn’t terribly excited about.

But now that the dust has settled and the Octagon has been packed away one more time, let’s look back over Saturday night’s action to see whose stock soared and whose plummeted into the basement of the MGM Grand.

In the wake of UFC 130, here are your biggest winners, losers, and everything in between.

Biggest Winner: Brian Stann
Sure, it makes for a great storyline to see the former Marine beat somebody up on Memorial Day weekend, but forget that for a minute. Stann took on the Sengoku middleweight champ in a fight that was supposed to be a serious test of his skills, and he practically breezed through it with the perfect mix of poise and aggression. He didn’t lose his cool when he had Santiago hurt early. He didn’t lay back too much and let good opportunities slip by. He did exactly what he needed to do, and he got perhaps the biggest win of his career. He also pocketed a Fight of the Night bonus, which is a nice way of reminding everyone that you were one of the few bright spots on an otherwise forgettable fight card. Plus, $70,000 buys a lot of hot dogs and apple pie.

Biggest Loser: Roy Nelson
There’s no questioning his toughness or his ability to take a shot. But his cardio? That’s a different story. You never want to end a round by immediately doubling over and putting your hands on your knees like an out-of-shape businessman who was forced to take the stairs for the first time in ten years. Let’s just say it sends the wrong message. Nelson got overpowered and outworked by Frank Mir, but the worst part is that by the end he just seemed grateful to get out of there and go home. We’ve seen him go the distance before without looking like he needed to have a defibrillator handy in his corner, so I’m not sure what accounts for this poor showing. Whatever it is, he’d better figure it out quick. The UFC seems less inclined to give Nelson the benefit of the doubt that it has extended to others.

Least Compelling Case for a Title Shot: “Rampage” Jackson
The hard part about fighting a guy who the current champ already demolished is that it provides an unavoidable counter-example that your performance will be measured against. Everyone will recall that Jon Jones straight-up assaulted Hamill, while Jackson carried him the distance. Not that the fight was close, mind you. Jackson stuffed all Hamill’s takedowns and put some leather on his face whenever he felt like it. Trouble is, he didn’t feel like it quite enough down the stretch. He’d explode with a combo, wait to see if Hamill was still standing, then catch his breath before trying it again. It’s a competent showing, sure, but not the kind that screams out for a shot at the belt. Jackson is undoubtedly one of the best light heavyweights around, but that means people are going to expect more out of him than what he showed on Saturday night. Whether he has any interest in giving it to them remains to be seen.

Most Impressive in Defeat: Miguel Torres
If nothing else, Torres proved once and for all that you just can’t win a decision off your back in MMA. If it was at all possible, he would have done it on Saturday night with his many, varied attempts at a finish against an opponent who was content to hold on and maintain top position. You could argue that a takedown is an effective way of controlling the fight and dictating the action, so Demetrious Johnson won it fair and square – and you’d probably be right. At the same time, it was Torres doing most of the work to actually end the fight and/or make something interesting happen. It didn’t get him the victory, but it does get him a tip of the cap, for whatever that’s worth.

Least Impressive in Victory: Frank Mir
We know “Big Country” is tough to put away. The Junior dos Santos fight proved that much. But it never looks good when you have an opponent who is almost too exhausted to stand and you let him hang around for the full three rounds with his tongue practically hanging out of his mouth. At times it seems like Mir takes an unfair amount of criticism, particularly from Dana White. But then you stop and ask yourself, even after two straight wins over two name heavyweights, would I really want to see Mir anywhere near a title fight? Not unless he bought a ticket.

Most Surprising: Rick Story
With a decision win over Thiago Alves in the UFC, Story joins a very exclusive club with some strict membership requirements. He did it with a game plan that played brilliantly to his own strengths while taking Alves’ mostly out of the equation, and he also proved that he can take a punch (or a knee) and keep right on coming. Alves is by far the best fighter Story has ever beaten, and he did it in a fight that really wasn’t even close on the scorecards. That’s six in a row for the young welterweight. He keeps this up, and things will get serious in his career very quickly.

Most Memorable: Travis Browne‘s KO
Whenever the 6’11” Struve gets knocked out it always makes for instant highlight reel material. Like a building being imploded, his collapse to the mat looks so awkward and takes so long that it makes a lasting impression on everyone who sees it. That’s bad news for Struve, but great news for Browne, who put himself on the map with a perfectly timed Superman punch. Even if he never does anything else with his MMA career, that knockout will live on in highlight packages for years. It should also instantly erase the bitter memory of Browne’s unimpressive draw with Cheick Kongo at UFC 120. Nothing like a crushing knockout to resurrect your reputation. Now let’s see what he can do with it.

Least Likely to Remain Employed: Kendall Grove
The decision loss to Boetsch marked his third defeat in four attempts. What’s worse, he was never really in the fight. It was takedown, top control, scramble to the feet, then rinse and repeat all night long. By the third round, everyone knew what Boetsch was going to do, yet Grove couldn’t even come close to stopping it. It made for a pretty boring fight, which didn’t do Boetsch any favors, but the only thing worse than winning a fight in that fashion is losing one the same way. Grove is now 7-6 in his UFC career. Most of the fighters he beat recently were later cut from the UFC, which tells you something. He’s been hovering over the chopping block for a while now. My guess is the ax is about to come down.

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