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The Ultimate Fighter 12 Finale set with Grove vs. Maia, Bonnar vs. Pokrajac

The Ultimate Fighter 12 Finale set with Grove vs. Maia, Bonnar vs. Pokrajac | MMAjunkie.com

http://mmajunkie.com/dyn/images/figh...ll-grove-4.jpg

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As expected two former cast members will be featured in December during The Ultimate Fighter 12 Finale.

The event takes place Dec. 4 at The Pearl at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas, and a lightweight fighter will be named the "TUF 12" champion.

Also part of the Spike TV card are "TUF 3" champ Kendall Grove (12-7 MMA, 7-4 UFC) vs. former middleweight title challenger Demian Maia (13-2 MMA, 7-2 UFC) and "TUF 1" runner-up Stephan Bonnar (12-7 MMA, 6-6 UFC) vs. fellow light heavyweight Igor Pokrajac (22-7 MMA, 1-2 UFC).

MMAjunkie.com (UFC blog for UFC news, UFC rumors, fighter interviews and event previews/recaps | MMAjunkie.com) reported the two bouts in September, and UFC and Spike TV officials today formally announced the main-card bouts.

The booking is good news for Grove, who – as MMAjunkie.com first reported – lost his spot on a UFC 116 "UFC Prelims" special because of critical comments he made about Spike TV and the UFC's long-running reality series.

Despite the demotion to the unaired preliminary card, Grove nevertheless earned a hard-fought split-decision win over a tough Goran Reljic. The victory helped him avoid back-to-back losses and marked his fourth win in his past six fights. Now with the fences apparently mended, he returns to a high-profile fight.

He also now could find himself back in prime title contention with a victory over Maia, who recently rebounded from a title loss to champ Anderson Silva with a unanimous-decision win over fellow submission ace Mario Miranda. Aside from an earlier defeat to fellow contender Nate Marquardt, Maia remains undefeated in professional competition, which includes UFC victories over the likes of Dan Miller, Chael Sonnen and Nate Quarry.

Bonnar, meanwhile, returns to the cage on the strength of a much-needed win over Krzysztof Soszynski at UFC 116. The "Fight of the Night" effort, which was actually a rematch from UFC 110, saw a gritty Bonnar at his finest, and the positive result snapped a three-fight losing streak in which he suffered losses to Jon Jones, Mark Coleman and Soszynski (in a controversial TKO stoppge).

Pokrajac also recently delivered in a must-win situation by submitting James Irvin at August's UFC on Versus 2 event. The Croatian was granted a rare third shot at a first UFC win after losing to James Te Huna and Vladimir Matyushenko in his first two octagon appearances.

Well Grove is in for a world of shit.

Team Dagger!

After Maias last performance, I am not worried about Grove that much.

I actually hope Grove can do something to take this win.

WAR Grove!

Grove takes this easy, just uses his crazy long arms to Maia at bay,and theirs little to no chance Maia can get a TD, this is Kendall's fight to lose. And I hope Bonnar gets another TKO.

maia wins his wrestling looked great againt miranda who is a brazilian national wrestling champ. while that obviously is no where near being a collegiate all american in the sates, its much more credentials then grove has.

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Originally Posted by IceCold48 (Post 759613)

I dont think you understand the advantage Grove has against any wrestler. Maia isnt any sort of wrestler, and hes not going to be able to get Kendall down due to the height difference, hes just to lanky.

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Originally Posted by GL Jeff (Post 759615)

I see what you are saying, yes Grove is tall.

If you remeber correctly though, Maia got a great TD on Chael (that turn into a mounted triangle very fast). Maia has better TDs than you think he does.

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Originally Posted by GL Jeff (Post 759615)

How is Grove's height an advantage when it comes to wrestling? If he uses his reach effectively, he can keep Maia to the outside. Once Maia's get inside Grove's high center of gravity make it easier to take him down.

Maia has taken down better wrestlers than Grove. He is going to be able to take him down.

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Originally Posted by kalebarker (Post 759627)

Its not the wrestling pedigree that will matter. When your going for a TD,your trying to grab their leg/legs and pull them out,and take them down. The problem with Grove,and really tall fighters,is when they sprawl their legs are so long,it makes it even harder to pull that leg in, let alone both. Not to mention,Grove can do the 1 foot hop very well.

If you wrestled,you know what I am talking about. Tall, lanky guys are harder to takedown, they have long "levers" so they get more leverage.

I don't see any reason that this fight will go any different than Almeida vs Grove except for the fact that Maia can actually get the sub.