185 lbs: Kendall Grove vs. Mark Munoz
Odds: (+140 Grove / -170 Munoz )
The opening bout of the evening pits talented Hawaiian scrapper Kendall “Da Spyder” Grove against former NCAA National wrestling champion Mark Munoz. Munoz is a physically imposing fighter with great wrestling and powerful standup, but Grove is a threat to finish with his dangerous Muay Thai and his top-notch jiu-jitsu, so this should be a highly competitive bout.
Munoz, a very skilled wrestler who made his way to the UFC through the WEC, has great takedowns, a solid top game, and really powerful standup. He will have a huge advantage over Grove in the wrestling department, which he will need to use to full advantage if he wants to earn another victory. The big question marks are how well he will be able to handle Grove’s sizable reach advantage and how well his largely untested submission defense will hold up
Grove, a tall and lanky fighter who uses his reach extremely well, has very good Muay Thai and excellent submissions from every position. The holes in his game are that he does not have very good takedown defense and he has something of a suspect chin. Unfortunately for Grove, Munoz has the ability to exploit both of those holes, so he is going to have his hands full in this one.
Stylistically, the edge goes to Munoz, who has knockout power and top-notch wrestling that can exploit Grove’s porous takedown defense. Grove is a notoriously tough guy, though, and his long and rangy frame are very hard for some guys to deal with. I think Grove’s submission attack is not only effective enough, but unorthodox enough, that Munoz is going to have trouble training for it in the gym, and that is going to come back to bite him come fight time. I think Grove is a very attractive underdog pick just because he is always a threat to finish standing and on the ground and he possesses physical attributes and a style that are difficult to recreate. Grove by submission.
Prediction: Kendall “Da Spyder” Grove via second round triangle choke.
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