“The Ultimate Fighter” Season 3 winner Kendall Grove will get a chance to avenge a defeat at the hands of former Konfrontacja Sztuk Walki titleholder Michal Materla on Jan. 21 in a rematch nearly-10-years-in-the-making at KSW 78. A source close to the situation informed Sherdog about the matchup.
In their first clash, Materla (31-9, 20-7 KSW) upended Grove on all scorecards at KSW 23 on June 8, 2013, notching the second defense of his 185-pound championship. “Cipao” is coming off a nasty first-round knockout loss to Mariusz Pudzianowski at KSW 70 in May. Before that, he stopped Jason Radcliffe with punches at KSW 66.
The 40-year-old Grove will make his cage return after a three-year hiatus. The former Ultimate Fighting Championship and Bellator MMA fighter scored a first-round submission victory via triangle choke in his latest cage appearance. Prior, he went on a three-bout skid that ended his Bellator run after consecutive losses to Alexander Shlemenko, John Salter and A.J. Matthews.
“I’m super excited to go back to KSW and to face Materla again,” Grove stated when contacted by Sherdog. “Our first fight was a bloody battle and one of the craziest of my career. I feel like we have unfinished business and I can’t wait to step foot in front of Materla again.”
KSW 78 is headlined by the middleweight clash between Tomasz Romanowski and Radoslaw Paczuski. The card will also feature the return of Arkadiusz Wrzosek .
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