ProElite

News of the bout was first reported by MMAFighting.

Winner of The Ultimate Fighter 3, Grove was released by the UFC earlier this year following a loss to Tim Boetsch. “Da Spyder” compiled a 7-6 record inside the octagon, showing a lack of consistency when the cage door closed. Grove bounced back from his UFC pink-slip though to quickly submit Joe Riggs at ProElite 1 in a rematch of Grove’s first professional loss in 2004. Grove has victories over the likes of Alan Belcher, Jake Rosholt, and Ed Herman.

One of the most popular fighters in Japan, Minowa will be heading to the US for the first time in his career when he challenges Grove. Competing in nearly 100 professional fights during his 15 year career, Minowa has fought everyone from Mirko Filipovic to Bob Sapp and Don Frye to Giant Silva. He’s best known for taking fights against larger opponents and in 2009 he captured the Super Hulk title in DREAM.

PHOTO CREDIT – PROELITE/FEG

In May 2004, Ultimate Fighter Season 3 winner Kendall Grove was three fights into his career when he ran into Joe Riggs at Rumble on the Rock 5 and suffered a knockout a little more than midway through the opening round. Fast-forward to August 27, 2011 and he’ll once again be locking horns with Riggs in Hawaii at the newly reformed ProElite’s inaugural event.

The bout’s significance is not lost on Grove who is fighting for the first time since parting ways with the UFC.

“I’m a fighter. I don’t just do this to say I’m a fighter. I do it because I’m good at it, and I want to make an impact in this sport,” the lanky competitor explained in an official ProElite press release. “So I’ve trained extremely hard for this fight. But how much bigger of a fight can I get than fighting the guy who gave me my first loss?”

“I’d be lying if I said there was no emotion behind the fight,” he continued. “I’ve been waiting for this fight since that loss. I’ve been telling my guys this camp that when he fought me before, I was a boy…now I’m a man.”

Grove’s growth as a Mixed Martial Artist was evident during an initially successful run in the Octagon where he racked up three straight wins including an outpointing of Ed Herman to win the TUF 3 crown five years ago. However, after choking out Alan Belcher at UFC 69, “Da Spyder” went 4-6 over his next ten UFC fights and was handed his release on the heels of back-to-back decision defeats.

When it comes to this weekend, though, the 28-year old has made it clear he expects to show people a different fighter will be on display come showtime in Honolulu.

“It’s hard to say that fans are going to see a new Kendall Grove, but I have to make sure they do. I have to get out of this rut I’m in. People have figured me out. So I have to change…it’s mandatory. But I have not only changed, I’ve gotten better and evolved. That’s what the fans are going to see Saturday night. When the fans see me fight Saturday, they’re going to see someone lay it all on the line. I’m just excited to be back home for a great organization. I get to help build this organization, and what better way to do that than in front of my home crowd?”

Other pairings scheduled for the ProElite card, streaming live for free on Sherdog at 10:00 PM PST / 1:00 AM EST, include former UFC heavyweight champ Andrei Arlovski taking on 5-2 finisher Ray Lopez and hard-hitting Drew McFedries mixing it up with island favorite Kala Hose, as well as an appearance from undefeated Olympic silver medalist wrestler Sara McMann and the professional debut of Reagan Penn (brother of UFC star B.J. Penn).

PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

Five Ounces of Pain was able to confirm the 12-9 Grove’s release with a source close to the situation.

The lanky Hawaiian exits the UFC with a winning record in the Octagon (7-6) and a number of notable wins including success against Evan Tanner, Jake Rosholt, and Alan Belcher. However, after debuting with three straight wins the 28-year old was knocked out in back-to-back bouts against Jorge Rivera and Patrick Cote and split his eight in-ring appearances since. Grove’s most recently fought late last month at UFC 130 where he was outmuscled and outpointed by Tim Boetsch en route to a Unanimous Decision loss.

PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

Their addition to the card was confirmed by the UFC along with seven other fights set for May 28 including a headlining clash between lightweight title-holder Frank Edgar and Gray Maynard.

Grove is coming off an outpointing to Demian Maia after starting out his post-TUF career off with three straight wins, then going 4-4 over his last eight fights. Also notable is the fact two of those victories came as the result of a Split Decision. The lanky middleweight holds an overall record of 12-8 with past success in the ring against Evan Tanner, Jake Rosholt, Ed Herman, and Alan Belcher.

The bout is also an important one for Boetsch who fell by way of submission to Phil Davis at UFC 123 in November and will making his debut at 185 pounds against Grove. The loss was the first for “The Barbarian” in more than eighteen months, a decision defeat to Jason Brilz at UFC 96 resulting in his release from the promotion before going on to rack up a trio of wins outside of the Octagon and ultimately finding success against Todd Brown in his return to the famous eight-sided cage last August.

In addition to Grove vs. Boetsch, UFC 130 feature Quinton “Rampage” Jackson in action against Matt Hamill, Roy Nelson and Frank Mir settling their score, Brian Stann welcoming Jorge Santiago back to the UFC, and an important welterweight war where contendership is concerned between Rick Story and Thiago Alves.

PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

In one half of the action, the man who stood toe-to-toe with Forrest Griffin at the inaugural TUF finale, Stephan Bonnar, will face Igor Pokrajac in hopes of building on the momentum of his TKO victory over Krzysztof Soszynski last July at UFC 116. The showing netted Bonnar a “Fight of the Night” distinction and broke a three-fight skid the likeable light heavyweight had been on since early 2009.

Pokrajac was also victorious in his last Octagon appearance. The 22-7 Croatian submitted James Irvin this past August at “UFC on Versus 2”. Nineteen of his twenty-two career wins have come by way of a finishing performance.

Also tagged for headlining work at the conclusion to the current season of the Ultimate Fighter, TUF 3 champ Kendall Grove will put his BJJ to the test against highly respected submission artist Demian Maia. The lanky middleweight is coming off a split-decision win over Goran Reljic at UFC 116, while Maia most recently outpointed Mario Miranda a little over a month ago at UFC 118 in Boston.

“Da Spyder” took to his Twitter account on Tuesday and let fans know will try to maneuver through Brazilian Demian Maia’s proverbial web on December 4th at the Ultimate Fighter Season 12 Finale.

The 27-year old Hawaiian also made it clear he understands the challenge at hand and explained his reasoning for doing so. “I know he’s one of the best. That’s why I took the fight. I’m here to do it big and I know what the f*ck I’m doing. Just enjoy the fight cause I will,” Grove posted on the popular networking site.

Grove has split his last four UFC appearances and is 6-4 overall in the organization since defeating Ed Herman in June 2006 to become an Ultimate Fighter Season 3 champ alongside Michael Bisping. He holds wins in the Octagon over Alan Belcher, Evan Tanner, Jake Rosholt, and most recently Goran Reljic via split decision at UFC 116 this past July.

The lanky middleweight’s opponent at the December event, Maia, is recognized as one of the top submission-grapplers currently competing in Mixed Martial Arts and is 13-2 thus far in his career. He is 2-2 in his last four UFC bouts with losses coming to 185-pound title-holder Anderson Silva and respected contender Nate Marquardt. However, Maia was the winner of a unanimous decision against Mario Miranda at UFC 118 a little less than two weeks ago, and has also claimed victory in the past against Jason MacDonald, Dan Miller, and Chael Sonnen.

The Ultimate Fighter Season 12 Finale is scheduled to take place in Las Vegas and rumored to feature Stephan Bonnar in action, as well as of course the standard crowning of the season’s champion.

FightHype.com is reporting that while nothing is official, Almeida will face Kendall Grove at UFC 101 which is scheduled for August 8th in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Almeida recently made known his desire to drop down to 170 known after defeating Matt Horwich via unanimous decision at UFC Fight Night 18 last week. Almeida is 2-1 since returning to action after an almost four year layoff. He has defeated Rob Yundt along with Horwich and lost a unanimous decision to Patrick Cote at UFC 86 which cost him a shot at the middleweight title.

Grove is riding a two fight win streak which includes a split decision victory over the late Evan Tanner at The Ultimate Fighter Finale 7 in June of last year and a resounding 1st round TKO over Canadian Jason Day at UFC 96 in March. That victory came on the heels of UFC president Dana White declaring that the fight with Day may be a make or break situation for the Hawaiian fighter.

UFC 101 will feature a lightweight title match between number one contender Kenny Florian and champion B.J. Penn.

Former light heavyweight champion, Forest Griffin, will be making his return to the octagon for the first time since losing the title to Rashad Evans at UFC 92 when he takes on hard hitting Brazilian, Thiago Silva.

Also rumored for the card is a light heavyweight bout between Brandon Vera and Matt Hammil.

The UFC has added some east coast fighters to the mix as they come back east for the first time since UFC 78 which took place in November of 2007 from Newark, NJ. New Jersey native Kurt Pelligrino will take on Josh Neer and New York college student, Tamdan McCrory, will face off with John Howard.

FiveOuncesOfPain.com learned of the likelihood of Grove’s involvement from a source close to the event on Monday, although Grove has not yet officially signed to compete.

An opponent has also not been determined. Rumors have circulated in recent days that Grove could face Wilson Gouveia. However, when contacted by Five Ounces of Pain, a source close to Gouveia indicated that the UFC has not approached them about a fight vs. Grove.

Grove was 1-2 coming into his fight vs. Day and had also not competed in eight months so that he could spend time with his newborn daughter. Put on notice by UFC President Dana White before the fight, the season three middleweight winner of The Ultimate Fighter forced the referee to call a stoppage to his bout against Day at 1:32 into the fight due to strikes.

During his post-fight interview with UFC color commentator Joe Rogan, Grove acknowledged that he felt his job was on the line. With the win over Day, Grove has now won two consecutive fights, including his split decision victory against the late Evan Tanner this past June during the live finale for the season season of The Ultimate Fighter.

Prior to his last two victories, Grove had sustained back-to-back first round TKOs, first to Patrick Cote at UFC 74 and then to Jorge Rivera at UFC 80.

Grove, the middleweight winner from the third season of The Ultimate Fighter is just 1-2 in his last three fights and likely needs a win tonight to remain employed by the UFC. Does he have a shot at winning? Continue reading our fight-by-fight preview of UFC 96 and find out what we think.

Kendall Grove (9-5) vs. Jason Day (17-7)

If the temptation of Vegas are so great and interferes with a fighter’s career, then why do so many fighters train there?

Alright, having been to Sin City nearly 20 times in my life, that’s an easy question to answer. Only being young once creates the conundrum for athlete: do I invest my time living the life, or do I fully commit to athletic excellence?

In MMA, there is a term known as “The MMA Lifestyle,” which consists of working hard but also playing hard. For Kendall Grove, he has publicly admitted that temptation got in the way of his career.

After winning becoming the middleweight winner of the third season of The Ultimate Fighter, Grove showed rapid signs of improvement every time he took to the cage. But then he suffered back-to-back upset first round knockouts against Patrick Cote and Jorge Rivera and his career went spiraling out of control.

A split decision win in the main event of the TUF 7 finale this past June against the late Evan Tanner likely saved his UFC career, but Grove can ill-afford to drop the ball against Jason Day.

Soon after the win over Tanner, Grove requested an extended layoff from fighting in anticipation of the birth of his first child. Hopefully the live changing experience will keep Grove away from partying and keep him focused on fighting.

While not as good as Cote, Day is certainly better than Rivera and has the ability needed to reduce Grove’s record to 1-3 in his last four fights. However, Grove has significantly better submissions and his 6’6” height gives him a ridiculous reach advantage when it comes to the standup aspect of the fight.

Like Grove, Day has not fought since June due to injury. Currently sporting a lifetime record of 1-1 in the UFC, the Canadian fighter made a strong Octagon debut last April at UFC 83 after scoring a first round TKO over Alan Belcher. However, he looked completely overmatched against Michael Bisping at UFC 85, losing via first round TKO.

Day won’t be overmatched vs. Grove, however, if Grove brings his A-game, he should have little trouble walking away with his arm raised.

Prediction: Grove via unanimous decision.

Grove who was the middleweight winner of season three of The Ultimate Fighter is 1-2 in his last three fights. He won a split decision over the late Evan Tanner last June and suffered consecutive first round knockouts to Patrick Cote and Jorge Rivera. He will fight Canadian Jason Day this coming Saturday at UFC 96 in Ohio.

White who is never at a loss for words went on record saying, “If Kendall loses this fight, he could be the first ever TUF winner that’s no longer in the UFC.”

White would technically be incorrect, as Travis Lutter, the middleweight winner of the fourth season of The Ultimate Fighter, became the first TUF winner to be released by the promotion. However, if Grove were to lose and be cut, he’d be the first “homegrown” TUF champion to have been dropped by the organization.

Either way Grove needs to not only win but put on an impressive performance as the UFC continues to try and trim the fat from its roster. Day is coming off a loss to Michael Bisping back in June of 2008 at UFC 85. That loss evened his record at 1-1 in the UFC. He had a successful debut just two months earlier at UFC 83 where he defeated Alan Belcher via first round TKO in front of his hometown Canadian fans.

The popular culture website 411Mania.com was the first site to report the matchup, with Grove’s attorney, Jill Baxter, quoted as the source.

Grove has been idle since the TUF 7 finale in large part because of the birth of his first child. During his most recent fight, the Hawaiian native recorded a split decision victory over the late Evan Tanner. The victory snapped a two fight losing streak.

Grove is 9-5 lifetime as a professional and 4-2 lifetime in the UFC with notable wins over Ed Herman, Chris Price, and Alan Belcher along with notable knockout losses against Patrick Cote and Jorge Rivera.

Like Grove, Day has also not fought since June. He had been scheduled to fight Jason Lambert at UFC 88 this past September but was forced to withdraw from the bout due to an injured elbow that required surgery.

The Canadian fighter is 17-7 overall and 1-1 lifetime in the UFC. He debuted for the promotion at UFC 83 this past April, where he TKO’d Alan Belcher in round 1. The victory was proceeded by a first round TKO loss to Michael Bisping during UFC 85 this past June.

Previously YAMMA had listed Richards as a member of the 8-man tournament set to take place on April 11th but he been removed from the “fightcard” section of the website but he still remains listed in the “press release” section.

The man who will replace Richards, Kevin Jordan (9-5) is a UFC veteran who fought both Paul Buentello and Gabriel Gonzaga while in the organization. He suffered a submission loss to Buentello and knockout loss to Gonzaga after a very lackluster fight that resulted in him being booted from the organization.

Since that time he has gone 2-1 in various organizations with his last fight being a victory over Carlos Morena at Battle Cage Xtreme 3.

As mentioned before the inaugural YAMMA Pit Fighting event, created by co-founder of the UFC, Bob Meyrowitz, will take place on April 11th at the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, New Jersey. In addition to the 8-Man tournament there will be two “Superfights”. The first being Oleg Taktarov vs. Don Frye and the second being Gary Goodridge vs. Eric Esch.

Read more YAMMA Pit Fighting content on FiveOuncesOfPain.com.