Kendall Grove (left) is headed to train with Tito Ortiz

By Michael Hatamoto

Kendall Grove picked up a split-decision win against Derek Brunson at ShoFIGHT 20 in Missouri last weekend, though he isn’t necessarily satisfied with the win.

Here is what he said to MMA Weekly:

“I’m just irritated because everybody’s like saying I got my ass kicked, but how?” wondered Grove.  I took no damage standing up, no damage on the ground. He’s a strong, physical guy, and he kept me on my back, that’s it.  I was doing more damage off my back and I think judges are slowly realizing that (is more important than position) and that’s why I got the win.”

A big portion of the difficulties he suffered can be attributed to the last-minute change of opponents.  Instead of fighting a 5’9” standup fighter (Terry Martin), Grove ended up fighting a 6’1” wrestler – so an entire training camp was suddenly flipped upside down.

To help improve his wrestling, Grove is heading to SoCal to help Tito Ortiz finish his training camp for Forrest Griffin.  Ortiz is a high-level wrestler and trains with other well-rounded grapplers, so it’ll be a good training experience for Grove.

Grove hopes to rack up a few solid wins and be invited back into the UFC’s middleweight division sometime in the near future.  The Hawaiian fighter has won three out of his last four matchups, and is injury free, so he feels now is a great time for him to work to get back into the No. 1 MMA organization.