Grove victorious at TUF Finale

Kendall Grove won a split decision victory over Evan Tanner in the main event of ‘The Ultimate Fighter Finale’ held Saturday night in Las Vegas and in the process very likely saved his job. With the fighters having been told privately by Dana White and Joe Silva that this was a ‘loser leave town’ matchup, Grove used his superior speed and standup skills to get the best of tough veteran Evan Tanner. Tanner managed to score a few takedowns in the first two rounds, but they weren’t enough to give him the 10 points—in fact, two of the three judges scored round two 10-8 for Grove. Tanner pressed the tempo in round three, correctly assuming that he needed a KO or a submission to win, but Grove managed to hang on for the win. 

While the fighters had been told that this was a ‘loser leave town’ match, the UFC didn’t make this fact known to the general public. Sources noted that this was done for several reasons, most significantly to give the UFC the freedom to ignore the stipulation if they so choose. While Tanner’s courageous performance in defeat may justify keeping him around at age 37 and having lost 4 of his last 5 fights realistically he’s likely looking at the end of his career. Tanner is quite a story, having worked countless odd jobs before becoming a full time fighter and has been very candid about his ongoing struggles with alcoholism. His battle with the bottle and problems stemming from his relationship with Chute Boxe USA caused him to go nearly two years between fights. His personal difficulties notwithstanding, Tanner has a very impressive career resume with a record of 32-8 and a UFC Middleweight Championship to his credit. 

In the finals of ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ TV series, Amir Sadollah used an armbar to submit C.B. Dollaway early in the first round. Dollaway was a late replacement for Jesse Taylor, who was kicked out of the finals by UFC President Dana White following some drunkenly deviant behavior at and around several Las Vegas casinos. Immediately after the stoppage Dollaway ran around the ring protesting to everyone in sight that he didn’t tap, but TV replays clearly proved otherwise. Sadollah could be a future star, with the same sort of ‘everyman’ persona as Forrest Griffin and a ton of toughness and heart. On at least two occasions during the series he was clearly losing fights late in the 3^rd round when he managed to pull out the victory with a submission. 

Earlier in the evening, Diego Sanchez returned to the octagon displaying a significantly upgraded standup game which he used to defeat tough Luigi Fiorvanti by TKO. Historically, Sanchez has relied on his ground game but Fiorvanti’s impressive takedown defense made that strategy problematic in this fight. Instead, Sanchez used an impressive and effective array of punching combinations and kicks to dominate the standup exchanges. It was readily apparent that Sanchez not only had the superior handspeed, but had the better technical punching skills. His newfound proficiency with his feet allowed him to further mix things up and keep Fiorvanti off balance with his striking. The end came midway through the third round when Sanchez tagged his opponent with a high kick, followed by a knee to the chin. At this point, he jumped on the downed Fiorvanti with an aggressive ‘ground and pound’ before the ref quickly called for the stoppage.

Also on the card, Spencer Fisher won a unanimous decision in a highly competitive fight with Jeremy Stephens. In the opening bout of the evening, Matt Riddle won his professional MMA debut with a unanimous decision triumph over Dante Rivera. Rivera had announced before the fight that he would retire if he lost, but immediately after the decision was announced he indicated his plans to keep fighting. Riddle, with spiky red hair and a charismatic persona could be a star of the future. He’s a former Division 1 All American wrestler, and the win here demonstrated that his striking skills are coming along nicely as well.

Much of the SPIKE TV broadcast was devoted to promoting the UFC’s upcoming events, which resulted in an often interminable amount of time between bouts. The next event for the UFC features the matchup between the two coaches from ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ as Forrest Griffin meets Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson in a light heavyweight title bout.