By Denny Burkholder
CBSSports.com Staff Writer
While not officially a "loser leaves town" fight, that was certainly the idea. At least that's what Kendall Grove believed heading into his main event battle with former UFC middleweight champion Evan Tanner on Saturday night in Las Vegas.
That might have been all it took to motivate Grove, as "Da Spyder" punished Tanner with brutal knees, kicks and punches for three full rounds en route to a split decision victory.
Tanner (32-8 overall, 11-6 UFC) forced Grove against the cage early on, but the 6-foot-6 Grove used his sizable reach advantage to bust open the left side of Tanner's head with an elbow. He punished Tanner with a series of kicks, knees and punches, as Tanner struggled to close the distance. Tanner grabbed a leg for a takedown attempt, and Grove jumped up with his other leg to deliver a crushing knee.
Tanner worked hard to force Grove to the mat in Round 2. Grove (9-5 overall, 4-2 UFC) rocked Tanner with more knees and elbows, very nearly finishing him off before Tanner mustered the wherewithal to clinch Grove against the cage and buy himself a little recovery time.
Tanner stayed in the fight for the duration of Round 3, showing remarkable fighting spirit and clinching Grove against the cage. In a hail-mary attempt to knock Grove out and steal the win, Tanner landed several nice blows as the fighters slugged it out to end the bout.
Two judges scored the bout 30-26 for Grove, and a third scored the bout 29-28 in favor of Tanner.
Grove broke a two-fight skid with the win, and ended a losing streak that threatened to send him packing from the UFC. Instead, it is the 37-year-old Tanner whose UFC fate is up in the air.
Tanner took a two-year leave of absence from the sport in 2006 to deal with personal problems, and then lost his comeback fight to Yushin Okami at UFC 82 in March. Tanner said repeatedly before the fight with Grove that he needed to win to prove he still belonged in the sport of MMA.
After his win, Grove thanked Jorge Rivera and Patrick Cote -- the men who beat him in his previous two fights -- for helping him mature, the hard way.
"My last two fights, I got embarrassed," Grove said. "But I grew up as a fighter in those losses."
Grove said he came into the fight prepared for the likelihood that Tanner would try to bring him to the mat, and planned all along to force a standup battle.
"Like I was taught," Grove said. "If he takes me down, get up. I knew he was going to get tired."
Grove won the third season of "The Ultimate Fighter" in 2006. In Saturday's semi-main event, the champion of the seventh season of TUF became the unlikeliest of UFC heroes.
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For the first time in the history of the series, an MMA rookie is now "The Ultimate Fighter."
This isn't some MMA journeyman who's finally making his debut in the UFC. This is a true rookie. Amir Sadollah tried out for the cast of TUF 7 with no professional MMA bouts on his record, and impressed UFC and Spike TV officials enough to make the cut.
Then, he won a fight to earn a spot in the TUF house. After that, he beat three fighters in a row -- one of them C.B. Dollaway -- to earn the right to make his official MMA debut in the UFC, as one of the finalists of the TUF middleweight tournament.
If all of that sounds improbable, imagine how insane it was when Sadollah won the tournament final against Dollaway in the exact same way that he won the semifinal -- by pulling out an armbar from the receiving end of a ground and pound attack.
Sadollah (1-0, 1-0 UFC) used the same thrusting front kicks to the chest that were among his favorite weapons during TUF 7.
Dollaway eventually took Sadollah down. He tried to pass guard, but Sadollah was able to prevent it. Dollaway used ground and pound to keep busy until, in a scene familiar to those who saw their TUF 7 semifinal bout, Sadollah grabbed Dollaway's arm and wrenched back.
Dollaway (6-1, 0-1 UFC) first used his hand to try and loosen Sadollah's grip, No dice. Sadollah extended the arm even more, and Dollaway tapped Sadollah's thigh one time with his right hand, and referee Herb Dean awarded the bout to Sadollah via submission.
Dollaway immediately protested that he didn't tap, although the television replay clearly showed that he did, albeit only once.
As usual, Sadollah seemed stunned by his own success, looking more like a grand prize lottery winner than a fighter who had just seen his training pay off in the form of a UFC contract.
"I'm blown away by what just happened," Sadollah said.
Sadollah was originally slated to face Jesse Taylor in the final, but Taylor was kicked out of the competition for some out-of-the-cage antics in Las Vegas after the season had finished taping. Dollaway defeated fellow semifinalist Tim Credeur for the chance at a rematch with Sadollah in the final.
Also on Saturday, Diego "The Nightmare" Sanchez won his second straight UFC fight by outdueling Luigi Fioravanti for a third-round TKO.
Sanchez had been close to a welterweight title shot in 2007 before a pair of losses knocked him down a few notches in the 170-pound pecking order. With a couple more performances like he put on Saturday, he could be back in the title conversation by next year.
After an early takedown attempt failed, Sanchez (22-2, 8-2 UFC) found his groove by outstriking Fioravanti. He rocked him with a right uppercut and followed up with a flying knee and some punches from a muay thai clinch. Sanchez repeatedly decked Fioravanti with uppercuts and mixed in some kicks.
Round 2 saw Sanchez drop Fioravanti to the mat twice with right hands and rush into finish with strikes. Fioravanti fought his way back to his feet in both cases, and finished the round in a fairly even striking duel, connecting on some nice combinations before the buzzer.
Fioravanti (12-4, 3-4 UFC) kept the fight standing in the third round and avoided Sanchez's attempt to take his back. Near the end of the round, Sanchez connected with a left head kick to Fioravanti's ear. A stunned Fioravanti dropped to a knee. As he stood back up, Sanchez met him with a knee to the head to put him on the mat for good, and finished him with strikes on the ground.
Long known as a skilled ground fighter, Sanchez stumbled last year with a pair of losses to standout wrestlers Josh Koscheck and Jon Fitch. Now with a two-fight win streak to his credit, Sanchez said this fight proved that his feet and fists are formidable.
"It's been a long time that people have underestimated the striking ability," Sanchez said.
Spencer "The King" Fisher bounced back from his UFC 78 loss to Frank Edgar by scoring a unanimous decision victory over Jeremy Stephens.
Fisher (21-4, 6-3 UFC) dominated the first two rounds with striking during standup and also on the mat, despite Stephens defending well. Stephens (13-3, 2-2 UFC) rallied in the third round, repeatedly going for submissions and unloading with ground and pound. The judges all scored the bout 29-28 for Fisher.
Complete fight results from Saturday's UFC event in Las Vegas:
-- Kendall Grove defeated Evan Tanner via split decision after three rounds.
-- Amir Sadollah defeated C.B. Dollaway via submission to an armbar at 3:02 of Round 1.
-- Diego Sanchez defeated Luigi Fioravanti via TKO due to strikes at 4:07 of Round 3.
-- Spencer Fisher defeated Jeremy Stephens via unanimous decision after three rounds.
-- Matt Riddle defeated Dante Rivera via unanimous decision after three rounds.
-- Dustin Hazelett defeated Josh Burkman via submission to an armbar at 4:46 of Round 2.
-- Drew McFedries defeated Marvin Eastman via TKO due to strikes at 1:08 of Round 1.
-- Matt Brown defeated Matt Arroyo via TKO due to strikes at 3:40 of Round 2.
-- Dean Lister defeated Jeremy Horn via submission to a guillotine choke at 3:52 of Round 1.
-- Tim Credeur vs. Cale Yarbrough was canceled prior to the start of the event.
-- Rob Kimmons defeated Rob Yundt via submission to a guillotine choke at 3:58 of Round 1.
