“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 .