Congratulations goes out to Kendall “Da Spyder” Grove in defeating former UFC Middleweight Champion Evan Tanner last night in the Ultimate Fighter Finale. Born and raised on Maui, Kendall won The Ultimate Fighter series, but has recently lost two straight fights in Patrick Cote and Jorge Rivera. Evan Tanner was in a similar position with a comeback fight where he lost to a tough Yushin Okami. Both were looking to come back hungry as ever, since both are coming off losses.

To Kendall, this was a make it or break it fight. After training out of Vegas for some time, he went back to the islands, particularly BJ Penn’s MMA in Hilo Hawaii where he trained with BJ and Rudy Valentino. Here, he felt that he was at his best, and boy, did he give it to Evan Tanner. I was able to see a very confident Kendall, with much improved striking and good defense. His suspect chin was tested, but he weathered the storm and was not in trouble at any point. He even threw two jumping knees when Evan tried to perform a single leg takedown, which should definitely be in the highlight reels sometime sooner than later.

Kendall won a decision, with one judge scoring Evan winning two rounds out of three, while the other two judges gave all three rounds to Kendall, and even giving Kendall a 10-8 in one of the rounds due to a thorough beating of Evan. I till tip my hats off to Evan because he showed a lot of heart and did not give up, but Kendall was too much for him.

Again, congratulations to Kendall! With BJ and Kendall back in the mix, Hawaii is definitely putting Hawaii back on the map!

• Troy Mandaloniz Moves to Next Round on Spike’s Ultimate Fighter Reality Show
• Kendall “Da Spyder” Grove to Fight at “UFC 74: Respect” This Saturday
• BJ Penn to Fight This Saturday

Tags: MMA

               
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