Kendall Grove to face Evan Tanner at TUF 7 Finale
Kendall Grove will take on former UFC middleweight champion, Evan Tanner at the Ultimate Fighter 7 finale according to Grove’s personal website.
The match-up is listed in the “Upcoming Fight” section on the homepage.
Grove, the winner of TUF 3’s middleweight tournament is currently on a two fight losing streak following successive TKO losses to TUF 4 veterans, Patrick Cote and Jorge Rivera. ‘Da Spyder’ has a 3-2 record in the UFC scoring wins over Ed Herman, Chris Price and the talented but erratic, Alan Belcher.
Tanner recently made a return to mixed martial arts competition after nearly a two year hiatus from the sport. His comeback fight against top middleweight contender, Yushin Okami was unsuccessful however as he suffered a second round KO at the knee of Japanese fighter.
As stated above this fight will take place on the Ultimate Fighter 7 season finale which is set to take place on June 21 at The Palms, Las Vegas. The main event that night will be a welterweight clash between Diego Sanchez and Luigi Fioravanti.
Kudos to The Fight Network for the find.
Read more Kendall Grove and Evan Tanner content on FiveOuncesOfPain.com.
Sam Cupitt is is a contributor to FiveOuncesofPain.com
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Angry Mike
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Bad Monkey
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Rich S.
Can’t say i’m interested in ths fight at all, but it’s a huge one for both guys. Where does Kendall go if he loses this one?
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Hmmm.. This will probably be 3 loses in a row for Groove which will get him cut from the UFC.
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How could you not be even a little interested in this fight? Both guys aren’t the most explosive of fighters, but thsi fight is dripping with bad consequences for the loser. If Grove loses, he may be the first TUF winner to fight himself right out of the company. If Tanner loses, an old veteran might be saying goodbye to a sport he once almost sat on top of as the cream of the crop. Its got a soapopera feel to it, and I for one can’t wait to see it. Personally, I think I am taking Grove in this one. I am not a fan of his, but I think Tanner doesn’t have much left in the tank while Grove is a young pup with a good camp. I say Grove via split decision.
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Im taking Tanner by ground and pound stoppage in the 2nd… elbows.
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I actually like this fight. These guys are fighting for the right to stay in the UFC.
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This is a bad fight for grove me thinks. He doesn’t have the KO power to stop tanner and his grappling skills aren’t as good as david terrell. At the same time, I don’t see the UFC dropping either as they both have name recognition and would be valuable assets to a competitor.
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Everybody’s hit the nail on the head. This is easily the biggest fight of Grove’s young career, and one of the biggest for Tanner. I think it’s gonna be a hell of a fight with the winner earning the right to extend their stay in the UFC.
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Watch it be a tie…hahaha
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i’m getting sick of these match-ups..
you know.. the ones where i want BOTH guys to succeed..
kind of like kenflo/j-lau.. i didn’t want either of them to have to take a loss on their record.. and the marcus davis/mike swick fight in the future.. i don’t want either of them to take a loss..
i really like Evan Tanner and really want him to get back on track.. but i don’t want Grove to take another loss on his record.. i mean, 3 in a row would be horrible.. whether he’s a TUF winner or not, you can’t stay in an organization forever if you keep losing..
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I hear ya Rich. I didn’t like having to see Tanner and Okami face off.
Although the more I think about it the more I think they would give Tanner another shot if he lost, but Grove…not so much.
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Tanner will destroy Grove … plain and simple … Tanner has been through the trenches and will handle him, with gNp … too bad for Kendall
Hey Rich S … WOW .. i hadn’t heard about Davis vs Swick … again … WOW … Marcus is a FIGHTER … can’t wait to see this one
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It’ll be a test of heart, since both have skills. In the words of Mr. White, which of them “wants to be a f—— fighter” the most? Realistically, if it turns out to be an all out war, I suspect they both remain in the UFC. Why cut guys who compete hard and put on a good show, especially if they both have some name recognition and fans? If the fight isn’t that compelling, it could be a “loser out” situation.
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This is exactly the kind of fight that Tanner wins. Don’t know why they put him in there with one of the top contenders his first fight back after such a layoff. This should have been his first match up, which he will win by GnP in the first couple rounds.
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ya..
i think this one may end up looking like tanner/terrell or tanner/baroni 1..in which tanner made comebacks..
i think maybe kendell will get some good kicks in in the beginning, and might hurt him in the clinch.. but at some point it will hit the ground.. and tanner will slowly but surely start the comeback.. and i feel he’ll get a finish..
i still want to know what was wrong w/ tanner in the okami fight.. he looked sluggish and maybe sick [i know.. i've said it a million times].. i just think he may have cut incorrectly or something.. even though i can’t see SUCH a veteran like him cutting incorrectly.. idk..
if Kendell loses.. i think he’d be great for the WEC..
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I think the reason Tanner looked a little off was that he was fighting one of the best guys in the division, a big-for-185, fight sharp Okami, after taking a couple years off to drink beer and do f-all training-wise. It’s amazing he looked as good as he did. He made it into the second round and the fight was pretty close until he caught that knee. The UFC is the top of the food chain for MMA. Like any other major sport, but particularly for fighters, you just can’t take two years off training and competing and expect to come in and be competitive against one of the top contenders. Especially not at the advanced age of Tanner. All things considered he did well and I expect him to fare much, much better against Grove. If he gets past him, then maybe he can face a Patrick Cote or another guy in the latter half of the top 10. I like Tanner a lot and hope we can see more of him when he’s at his best.
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well at least their handing Grove a win this time………. gees
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This should be a gimmick match. Loser leaves UFC for good.
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