A Non-Sugarcoated "Spyda": The Real Kendall Grove Returns at UFC 116

There's nothing like a pre-fight moment to give someone a new outlook on a fighter.

Last Friday evening, at about seven o'clock (central time), I experienced such an occasion when I had the honor and privilege of interviewing "Da Spyda" himself, Kendall Grove, about his upcoming bout with Goran Reljic at UFC 116.

While he was on point about his upcoming fight and his preparation for Reljic, he still managed to show a lighter side that some people may or may not know of from the first Middleweight Ultimate Fighter of Hawaiian blood.

Before we get into the Reljic encounter, I did have an occasion to ask Kendall about his "fight of the night" with Black House MMA's Mark Munoz.

"You know, I just came in there [against Mark] and wanted to keep the fight standing," Grove said.

A high school wrestler who had a year's worth of BJJ before his pro career, and despite having one of the UFC's best uses of the Brazilian discipline, Grove looked to keep the fight away from the area in which Munoz had previously shown comfort for a portion of the fight, but he never lost confidence in his Jiu-Jitsu.

As exciting as the fight was for its duration, it couldn't last all night.

Kendall didn't make excuses for what happened against Munoz. He ate a barrage of shots, saw Munoz get his hand raised, and took this fight as a learning experience he knew would help him to become a stronger fighter.

That, plus—in his own words—he did thank Munoz after the fight.

Why?

"I said, "Hey Mark, thanks for kicking my ass," Grove said, laughing.

More often than not, a strong fight like what Munoz and Grove had is what it takes to produce a stronger fighter.

As expected in "vintage Grove" fashion, "Da Spyda" isn't looking back at the Filipino Wrecking Machine.

He is, however, looking forward to July 3rd and to Goran Reljic.

In preparation for this bout, the former Team Punishment member has opened up the I&I Training Center in his native Maui, where he's had up-and-comers, as well as fighters from BJ Penn's camp among many others, help to ready him up for his war with Reljic.

How is Grove going to approach the Croation-born kickboxer and BJJ brown belt with 10 fewer fights than he's had?

"That's Cro Cop's protege, a "Baby Cro Cop" basically, and his Jiu-Jitsu is pretty good, so I think we're about the same," Grove said.

Though he does train in a different stand-up discipline than Reljic—Grove has been credited for his Muay Thai skills on numerous occasions—he knows a brown belt in BJJ doesn't make a fighter any less dangerous than a black belt.

After all, Reljic is a protege of Cro Cop.

Recently, the fight was bumped down from the Spike TV prelims to the unaired prelims.

Has this had any effect on Grove or the sponsors he's promoted?

"Maybe [it will], maybe not, but... a fight's a fight," Grove said in response.

Grove admits he's in "The 'Hurt' Business" because he loves to fight, and as long as he gets the chance to fight someone he doesn't mind it too much that his fight is on a preliminary card.

He also doesn't mind telling anyone that although he likes to finish, he's not going to be greedy when it comes to the "W" column and how he sees it.

"I do like to finish, but I do like to push the pace... If a submission comes, great, and if the knockout comes, even better because it's always nicer to knock somebody out."

As mentioned before, Grove did wrestle in high school and he did do BJJ for a year, so his ground game should come as no surprise to anyone in a list of the UFC's best ground games.

To anyone who is still surprised that Grove's BJJ game does get any credit, he definitely looks to show them why during Independence Day weekend.

"We're going to find out July 3rd, and watch out, man—I've been working on my submission game even more, I'm very confident in my submission game, and you might see me pull off a submission."

I said it when I interviewed him, and I'll put it in print: I'm definitely going to look forward to seeing Grove pull off a submission on "Baby Cro Cop" when Saturday rolls around.

If he does get the submission win over Reljic, there is one definite about the submission that shouldn't surprise anyone... the submission could come by way of the D'Arce Choke.

"I've always loved it, it's been my favorite submission, but sometimes I pressure the D'Arce, and I get greedy with it to where I want it so much."

He'll tell you like he told me: It's his favorite to use, along with arm triangles.

Would he work a guillotine choke into his game, though?

Hell yeah, he would.

"I've been getting better and better at guillotines, which I sucked before... but lately I've been sneaking them in there, man."

Of course, for the style that's all Kendall Grove every time, the Season Three Ultimate Fighter winner likes to admit elements of his style come from the current UFC Light Heavyweight Champ as well as the former UFC Lightweight Champ.

I mean, what isn't exciting about Shogun?

On top of that, what isn't fun about watching BJ Penn fight?

"I actually think he's younger than me by a couple of months," Grove laughed, "but he's always been a favorite ever since he was in PRIDE... I try to mimic that with a collaboration of BJ's."

Grove and BJ Penn, respective natives of Maui and Hilo, have and still do train with each other, and Grove takes more than just a few new moves out of training with him whenever he collaborates with BJ.

"[BJ] just gives me the motivation to go out there and say, "[expletive] it, this guy from Hilo can do it, then maybe I can."

Grove also gives credit where it's warranted for Wanderlei and Anderson Silva, and he's also said that Georges St-Pierre is always good to watch because he feels GSP is a complete fighter.

However, if he had to watch tapes of one fighter over and over again, it'd have to be Mauricio Rua, the Shogun himself.

And as it pertains to The Ultimate Fighter, Grove has former roommate Joe Stevenson—yes, Joe "Daddy" Stevenson—to thank for his spot on the show's third season.

"Joe went on the show and at the time, his girlfriend was pregnant with his son," Grove said.

Now, Stevenson's son is the godson of Grove.

"When he went on the show, I just helped her out... he's a class act in the sport."

As a token of thanks for the help he provided for his now-wife during his six weeks on The Ultimate Fighter, Stevenson put in a good word for Grove for season three.

"He said, "I put in a good word for you. It's not a guarantee, but I can help get you through the interviews and stuff."

In exchange, Grove would prepare for the show akin to how Stevenson would during his time on Team Hughes.

To this day, Grove still considers the fight with Ed Herman at the season three finale to be a split decision instead of the unanimous decision that was rendered for Grove.

"To me, when I look at that fight, it could've went both ways, and I went fast for a deep choke."

Had the fight not ended then and there, the fight wouldn't have been so split.

"You give me three more seconds, and he'd have been out cold."

Even better for Grove is if the fight could have gone a full 15 with no breaks.

"It should be 15 minutes straight, no rounds, or 25 minutes straight, and whatever happens, happens. That's the way I feel it should go."

Actually, that would be fun to watch. Just like the old days of the UFC.

Speaking of the old days, the old days of Kendall Grove saw him take a fight at 205 against a guy named Hector Ramirez.

The fight, the second to last pro fight before facing Ed Herman, ended in a knockout loss for Grove.

For anyone in attendance that night, the fight showed that Kendal Grove was a gamer.

"I'm game, I didn't do all this training for nothing, let's do it," Grove said when Ramirez was brought up as the replacement for the opponent whom Grove was supposed to face.

As said before, Grove recalls that it was a good KO.

The way he fell to the mat and hit his head against it, Kendall described, was like "a [expletive] tree falling."

That was then and this is now.

This is fight week.

This is the week of UFC 116.

What's the difference between then and now?

Well, not a whole lot if you're asking him legitimately who he'd like to face in the cage.

If anyone means "anyone," he'd love to face Chuck Norris or Steven Segal.

Legitimately, he'll fight anybody.

"I'll fight anybody. I don't have any problems, bad blood with anyone. They may have [bad blood] with me, but until they talk [expletive] to my face, I'll be more than happy to fight anybody."

To quote Josh Koscheck, "It's just business."

As far as if "Da Spyda" Vs. "The Spider" happens, Grove had a take on that as well.

"It'd be a fun fight, of course I'd have to train my ass off, but... yeah, any given Sunday The matchmakers won't give me a shot in hell, but at least I know in my mind that I have a shot, and I have a puncher's chance, and I'd love to do it, I'm not gonna lie to you."

All that aside, Grove isn't trying to be a pound-for-pound king or the world's best middleweight.

"There's always some young kid in the Midwest or the West Coast or East Coast or Russia or somewhere that can smash every one of us."

The sport is evolving, as is the competition in the sport, so Grove knows as soon as someone says he's a top 10 or top five middleweight, another middleweight fighter from somewhere-in-the-world proves himself as a guy who has what it takes to contend with Grove.

Besides, Grove loves to fight regardless of what's at stake.

He fights for the love of the sport and the money, of course, but he also fights for the "true fans."

"I definitely fight for the fans... the fans that support me in whatever I do, and not any of those who only like [me] because [I] have a shot, and then the minute [I] get derailed, it's like '[expletive] that guy'."

With Grove, the fight's not just for his true fans, but of Reljic and any other fighter.

He fights for those fans, and for every fan that's going to pay 40-50 bucks or throw in to watch the UFC's Independence Day blockbuster this weekend.

Most of all, he loves to put in fights for his soon-to-be-two-year-old daughter Khloe.

"She's my world, man... that's one of the reasons why I fight, so I can provide a better future for her. Thank you, baby, for providing me with all the motivation."

In closing, Grove also pays his respect to MMA's own three wise men with a dream, a trio that unfortunately lost one of its own in Charles "Mask" Lewis.

"To my sponsor, TapOut—Skrape, Punk-Ass. Rest in peace, Mask. Thank you for always believing in me and picking me up."

Afterwards, he did admit that his mouth got him into trouble on TapOut Radio and issued an apology for anyone whom he may have offended.

Regardless of whether this fight with Reljic on Saturday is Kendall's last with the UFC, he's coming out guns blazing for the true fans.

And to all the haters of Kendall Grove, there's a message for them as well:

"[expletive] all the haters! [laughs] You think you have the [expletive] to do what I do? Continue to sit there... for the 50 dollar pay per view, [expletive]! [laughs]"

His mouth may have gotten him into trouble with Zuffa and the UFC, but when he steps into the cage on Independence Day weekend, he'll let his fight game do all the talking...

... And just like Kendall Grove in this interview, I'm not going to sugarcoat it when I tell you so.

Want to know more about Kendall Grove? Visit him here or follow him.