Kendall Grove Fight Blog Pt 1 – ‘Submitting Terry Martin’

by Kendall Grove ~ special to MMAWeekly.com

Former Ultimate Fighter winner Kendall Grove will be blogging exclusively for MMAWeekly.com leading up to his June 16 bout with Terry Martin at ShoFights in Missouri.

This is the first edition of his blog:

On Saturday, June 16th, I will take on Terry Martin for the first-ever ShoFIGHT middleweight belt in Missouri. It’s a great fight between two guys who really couldn’t be much different. I’m 6’6” with a pretty long reach. Terry is 5’7”…so I will clearly have quite the reach advantage. I’ve got the edge on the ground while he’s more of a standup fighter. I’ve won two of his last three scraps, while he’s won four of his last five fights.

So you could say we have some differences and similarities. I’ve done my research.

Martin is a tough dude…there’s no question about that. He’s beat some top guys, including Chael Sonnen, Jorge Rivera, and Ivan Salaverry. So I don’t doubt his ability to make a very good showing. He hits very hard, and, ironically, though he’s not known for his ground game, he’s never been submitted.

I’d like to be the first.

However, I’ve got the feeling this is going to be a standup war. So I’ve been training hard in Hawaii, really working on my standup. By the time I step into the cage in a week and a half or so, I’m going to be ready. My weight is right where I need it to be. I’m mentally prepared.

In my last fight, I lost to Jay Silva. It was pretty tough to take, especially since it was by submission. In almost twenty-five pro fights, I’d only been submitted once before then. And, I’d also won two straight coming into the bout. I wanted that win badly.

It just wasn’t my night. Which makes my fight with Martin that much more important. I want that belt. I want to knock him out, or be the very first to submit him. It’s been about three years since I knocked someone out, which is too long for me. But I’ll take the win any way I can get it.

I need to rebound from the Silva loss and show that I am still on the rise as a fighter.

Losses can be so hard to deal with. I have a beautiful wife, great kids, my own gym. Those things help me cope. But I want to get on a nice, long winning streak. I want to string together a bunch of wins.

I’m still fighting quality fighters in quality promotions, so I’m still getting opportunities. But I want to make the sure I’m taking advantage of each of them. I’m ready to represent my gym, my training partners, my state, and myself. I plan to take home the win and the belt.