UFC 101-Declaration Previews and Predictions Part 3

185 lbs-Ricardo Almeida vs Kendall Grove
Ricardo Almeida is a 3rd degree black belt in Gracie Jiu-Jitsu. Along with BJJ, he is also an accomplished wrestler and boxer. Along with this feat, he has many other accomplishments in the sport, including being a former Middleweight King of Pancrase. He has a professional record of 10-3, with 4 wins coming by submission and the rest via decision. He has notable wins over Eugene Jackson, Kazuo Misaki, Ryo Chonan, Matt Horwich and Nate Marquardt.

Kendall Grove was the winner of The Ultimate Fighter 3:Ortiz vs Shamrock. On the show he had wins over Ross Pointon, Kalib Starnes and Ed Herman. In his next fight, he defeated Chris Price via submission due to strikes. He went on to defeat Alan Belcher by KO in his next fight. Grove then lost two consecutive fights. He was the victim of brutal knockouts at the hands of Patrick Cote and Jorge Rivera. He has since then rallied to defeat the late Evan Tanner and Jason Day. His professional record is 10-5 with 2 KO's and 6 submissions. All 5 of his losses have come via stoppage. He has been knocked out by Joe Riggs and Hector Ramirez as well as Cote and Rivera who were mentioned above. His only other loss came by submission to Savant Young. He is a very well-rounded Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Muay Thai fighter who has trained with Tito Ortiz and Randy Couture. He is currently training in Hawaii with BJ Penn.

Prediction: This is a very difficult fight to call but I would give the edge to Grove. He has good take down defense and a good ground game. Almeida is not much of a striker and most of his wins have come via decision. Grove has only had a fight go to a decision twice and he has won both of those fights. I predict that Grove uses his reach advantage to pick Almeida apart and eventually wins via decision.