Kendall Grove set to fight Demian Maia
The best Brazilian jiu-jitsu fighter in the Ultimate Fighting Championships’ middleweight division is set to face off against the winner of The Ultimate Fighter season three. Demian Maia, the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu whiz who recently fought for a championship against divisional king Anderson Silva, will be taking on Kendall “Da Spyda” Grove. The fight is set to take place at the finale of the The Ultimate Fighter season 12.
Grove posted the news on his Twitter on Tuesday evening.
“December 4 live on spike tuff 12 final grove vs maia,” wrote Grove.
The match is to be an interesting one for several reasons. The first is that it shows Maia is still being relegated to the lower echelons of the division. After a stratospheric rise that saw him easily submit to a current middleweight contender in the second round, he was knocked out in 21 seconds by Nate Marquardt. He bounced back with a win over Dan Miller, and then stepped up to face champion Silva due to an injury to contender Vitor Belfort. He was humiliated over a five-round loss.
Despite bouncing back with an impressive victory over lower-tier fighter Mario Miranda, he’s back to facing another B-level fighter in Grove.
Since winning TUF 3, Grove has struggled to remain in the division. Since his win over Alan Belcher at UFC 69, he’s gone 4-4 with the UFC, with his victories coming over marginal fighters that have largely since been cut from the promotion. The 6ft 8in submission practitioner has been handled gently by the promotion, but it appears by placing him in against a very tough fighter like Maia the UFC is willing to throw him to the wolves. He criticised the UFC ahead of his last fight at UFC 116, and it may have made his bosses a little less willing to cut him slack in his choice of fighters.
Either way, fans should get to see a good battle between both fighters who prioritize the submission game. Maia will likely come in as a heavy favourite for the fight set for December 4 on Spike TV.
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