After 11 years, 'TUF 3' champ Kendall Grove still battles to find consistency

LOS ANGELES – Over the entirety of his more than 11-year, 34-fight career, Kendall Grove has never won more than four consecutive fights. Before retiring from competition, though, he’s determined to do better.

Grove (19-14) reached the elusive four-fight winning streak just once, from 2005-07. But other than that brief glimpse of longstanding success, his record shows a mix of two- and three-fight runs with numerous losses sprinkled in between.

The American has fought in organizations all around the globe during his MMA tenure, but he is likely best known to fans for earning a six-figure UFC contract as winner of “The Ultimate Fighter 3.”

That point in his career included his career-high winning streak, and now Grove says he must find a way to not just duplicate, but surpass that moment of success.

“I’m not consistent,” Grove told MMAjunkie. “That’s one thing I’ve always been s—ty on in my career, and I’m not afraid to admit it. I win, lose, win, win, lose, lose – promoters don’t want to see that. Promoters want to see win, win, win, win, win.”

It has been difficult for Grove to find a happy medium in recent years. He was released from the UFC in May 2011, leaving the octagon behind with a 7-6 mark. Since then, he has accrued a 7-5 record with wins over current UFC fighters Derek Brunson and Joe Riggs, but losses to the likes of Mamed Khalidov and Jesse Taylor.

Grove seems to know what has held him back so far. He says the mental aspect of fighting has prevented him from meeting his full potential.

“I’ve got to believe in myself,” Grove said. “No disrespect to anybody that’s beaten me or I’ve beaten, but I mindf–k myself. Sometimes going into the fight, I don’t really feel the pressure and I’m not scared, but just thinking about ‘I need that win money’ instead of just focusing on scrapping and winning and doing what I love to do. It’s something I haven’t figured out yet with my fighting.

“I’ve been doing this for 10 years full-time, and I still haven’t figured it out. I’ve figured out a lot of things, but that’s just one, that mental aspect where I need to step the f—k up and figure it out. That’s what fighting is about. You go out there and you figure it out, and that’s just one thing I haven’t figured out yet. God blessed me with some talent and God blessed me with some stuff that doesn’t really work for me. I’ve just got to sharpen those things that aren’t working for me so opponents can’t find that flaw.”

Grove has spent a long time searching for the solution to his consistency woes. However, with a move to California’s Reign Training Center to train alongside UFC veterans Michael Bisping, Mark Munoz, Jay Silva, Sean Strickland and plenty more, the 31-year-old Hawaiian believes the time for everything to come together is now.

“I know one day I’m not going to be able to do this and I don’t want to look back and say, ‘F–k, I should have done this or that,'” Grove said. “I’m 31 now. I’m still young, but my body feels like it’s 40. I want to get as much in as I can, while I can, while I’m still young, and just keep that momentum going.”

“Da Spyder” is currently contracted to two organizations – Bellator MMA and KSW, which is based in Poland. After suffering a knockout loss to Brett Cooper in his most recent Bellator appearance in March, Grove says he’s taking a bit of time to recover physically before attempting another climb to relevance.

Grove knows this may be his last chance to make his name in MMA as something more than a laundry list of fighters to win “TUF,” and if the time is ever going to come, it’s going to come in the immediate future.

“I’m doing it now,” Grove said. “I’m putting all my eggs in one basket right now and I’m riding it until the wheels fall off.”