Kendall Grove was in a rough spot against Demian Maia. Sure, he had a big advantage in the standup game, but the 6-foot-6 Grove is so long, he made for an easy target. Maia got Grove to the ground whenever he wanted in the first two rounds and rolled to a unanimous decision victory, 29-28 on all cards, in fight No. 3 on the televised portion of "The Ultimate Fighter 12 Finale" in Las Vegas.
After scoring his first takedown just 80 seconds into the fight, Maia ran a ground clinic on Grove. The Brazilian jiu-jitsu master was in constant motion landing some solid elbows and punches while trying to improve his position. Grove actually got mounted with two minutes left in the first, but showed solid ground defense to avoid anything significant in terms of striking or a submission attempt.
Maia (14-2, 8-2 UFC) scored two more takedowns in the second and had Grove (12-8, 5-3 UFC) in defensive mode on the ground for nearly three and a half minutes.
Maia chose to stand with Grove over the final five minutes. He held his own but judges gave the slight edge to Grove, who never really attacked in spite of being down 2-0 on the scorecards. He was hesitant to charge forward or sitdown on his strikes for fear of being planted again.
STORY EDGES HENDRICKS
Johny Hendricks finally met his match in the grappling department. The former Oklahoma State wrestling star had trouble getting Rick Story to the ground. On the feet, Story wasn't amazing, but he was able to score with some solid body shots. Story took a unanimous decision, 29-28 on all cards.
"I'm sure it was the attacks to the body," story told UFC analyst Joe Rogan. "When you scramble for takedowns and you're not really effective with it. It doesn't really score too well in the judges' eyes. I was trying to land strikes as he was coming in."
Story, 26, has now won five straight. They came against grinders like Dustin Hazelett, Nick Osipczak, Jesse Lennox, Brian Foster, and now Hendricks. At 5-1 with the promotion, Story is ready for a step up to the next level of UFC welterweight fighters.
The loss was far from embarrassing for Hendricks (9-1, 4-1 UFC). His game is improving, but he learned tonight that his grappling is only going to take him so far against the best 170-pounders in the world.
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