Diego Sanchez fought his rear end off last night in losing to Jake Ellenberger. The lead in to the fight was very revealing as Sanchez admitted he hadn't taken all elements of his career seriously enough. He seemed apologetic.
Just like the Season 1 "Ultimate Fighter" champion, Kendall Grove knows he's made mistakes along the way too, but he's not about to say he's sorry.
The headstrong Grove, who won TUF 3, is back fighting tonight in Las Vegas with a smaller promotion. Grove is headlining Superior Cage Combat 4 at the Orleans Arena. It's a solid card dotted with several UFC veterans. He may not be in the biggest show in the world, but Grove is happy with where he's at in his career.
"UFC was good, no doubt. But when I wanted to fight more it was 'no wait, wait. We'll tell you when you can fight.' It's more easier on my head," Grove told ESPN1100/98.9 FM. Don't get me wrong, I love competing with the best fighters in the world, but not all thebest fighters are in the UFC. There's other fighters out there."
Tonight, he faces another UFC veteran in Jay Silva (7-5, 0-2 UFC). He's looking for the finish. That's something he wasn't doing in his last few fights with the UFC.
"I kind of stalled in my UFC career ... just trying to survive and keep my job. I'm at the highest level, you don't want to go back down," said Grove. "That's where I messed up. I was just trying to survive."
Grove (14-9, 7-6 UFC) said in his mind he was a scrub and lucky to be there. His mindset has changed. He's fighting as often as possible. In fact the turnaround for this tilt was less than four weeks. Grove took out Japanese legend Ikuhisa Minowa back on Jan. 21 in Honolulu.
John Gunderson faces Justin Buchholz for the SCC lightweight title. TUF 13 alum Jamie Yager is also featured on the card. Two other UFC vets Terry Martin and Jesse Taylor were slated to square off, but the fight was canceled according to MMAWeekly.
SCC 4 weigh-in:
Kendall Grove (185) vs. Jay Silva (184) - Middleweight
John Gunderson (154.5) vs. Justin Buchholz (155) - Title fight
Danny Davis Jr. (170) vs. Jamie Yager (170) - Welterweight
Dominique Robinson (156) vs. Paulo Bananada (155) - Lightweight
Brandon Bender (145) vs. Shorty Weikel (144) -Bantamweight
Walt Harris (255) vs. Anthony Hamilton (265) - Heavyweight
Jimmy Jones (145) vs. Joao Victor (145) - Bantamweight
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