Grove was born in Wailuku, Maui, Hawaii and is a graduate of Baldwin High School in Wailuku, Hawaii, where he was a high school wrestler and played football.[4] Grove has a mixed ethnic heritage of Native Hawaiian, Samoan, Spanish, and Native American bloodlines.[5][6] Kendall trained Brazilian jiu-jitsu in his freshman year in the high school and moved to Las Vegas in 2002 to focus in the sport.[7] However, he got intrigued in mixed martial arts and begun training all aspects of it.[7]
Mixed martial arts career
The Ultimate Fighter
While on The Ultimate Fighter 3, Grove trained under Tito Ortiz, and won a preliminary victory against Ross Pointon by rear naked choke and in the semi-finals defeated Kalib Starnes by submission after a rib injury sustained by Starnes during the fight caused him to verbally submit. He defeated Ed Herman in the finals by unanimous decision (29–28, 29–28, and 29–28) in the series finale, winning a six-figure contract with the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
After the taping of the series, Grove was invited to Ortiz's training camp, Team Punishment and has trained with Ortiz along with many of his former teammates on The Ultimate Fighter 3 at Ortiz's Big Bear City, California, training facility. He has trained with Randy Couture's camp at Xtreme Couture.[8] Since his loss to Jorge Rivera, he has moved back to Hawaii and has trained there with his friend B.J. Penn.
In his next fight at UFC 69 he faced up and coming prospect Alan Belcher. After a close first round Grove came out strong in round two. Grove rocked Belcher with punches and knees from the clinch. With just over two minutes remaining in the round Grove secured a double-leg takedown. As Belcher scrambled to escape Grove locked in a D'Arce choke which rendered Belcher unconscious giving Grove the victory by technical submission at 4:42 of round two. It was the first D'Arce choke in UFC history.
At UFC 74, Grove faced UFC veteran Patrick Côté. Côté defeated Grove via first-round TKO. Grove experienced his second consecutive loss at UFC 80 to Jorge Rivera losing by KO at 1:20 in the first round.
Grove faced Evan Tanner at The Ultimate Fighter: Team Rampage vs Team Forrest Finale on June 21, 2008. The bout saw Grove bloody Tanner and frustrate the former middleweight champion by stopping his takedowns and getting back up immediately following being sent to the floor. Grove won a split decision (28–29, 30–26, and 30–26) to snap his two fight losing streak.
At UFC 106 Grove defeated Jake Rosholt by triangle choke at 3:59 of the first round.
Grove next faced middleweight prospect Mark Muñoz at UFC 112 in a bout that would earn Fight of the Night honors. After a successful first round with several near submissions, Grove lost via TKO at 2:50 in the 2nd round.
Grove faced Goran Reljic on July 3, 2010, at UFC 116.[9] Grove won via split decision (28–29, 30–27, and 29–28).[10]
Grove faced Tim Boetsch on May 28, 2011, at UFC 130[11] and lost via unanimous decision.
On June 17, 2011, Grove announced via Facebook that he had been released from the UFC, along with welterweight Chuck O'Neil.[12] He became the third Ultimate Fighter winner to be released following Efrain Escudero from Season Eight and Travis Lutter from Season Four.
ProElite
Grove fought Joe Riggs at ProElite 1 This was a rematch of their previous encounter at Rumble on the Rock 5, a match which Riggs won. Grove won via guillotine choke submission 59 seconds into round 1.
Grove headlined against Jay Silva on February 16 in Las Vegas, Nevada.[14] Grove lost the fight via submission in the second round.
Grove's next fight was against undefeated Derek Brunson for the ShoFight Middleweight Championship. Grove won via split decision.
Grove next fought Ariel Gandulla in Victoria, Canada at Aggression Fighting Championship 13 on November 3, 2012.[15] Grove defeated Gandulla by TKO in the second round.[16]
KSW
On December 1, 2012, Grove faced Mamed Khalidov at KSW 21 event in Poland. He lost by submission in the second round.
On June 8, 2013, he fought Michał Materla, for KSW Middleweight Championship and lost by unanimous decision.[17]
Bellator MMA
Grove made his promotional debut at Bellator 104 on October 18, 2013, with a three-round decision victory over Joe Vedepo.[18]
In 2014, Grove entered the Bellator Season 10 Middleweight tournament. He faced Brett Cooper at Bellator 114 on March 28, 2014.[19] He lost the fight via knockout in the second round.
Grove was originally scheduled to face Chris Honeycutt at Bellator 174 on March 3, 2017. However, Honeycutt was removed from the bout on February 28 and replaced by Mike Rhodes. Rhodes was then unable to make the required weight, and the bout scratched after they were unable to come to an agreement for the bout to proceed at a catchweight.[24]
Grove faced John Salter at Bellator 181 on July 14, 2017. He lost the fight via technical submission in the first round.[25]
Grove faced A.J. Matthews at Bellator 193 on January 26, 2018.[26] He lost the fight via split decision and was subsequently released from the promotion.[27][28]
Golden Boy Promotions
Grove was expected to face Andre Walker on Golden Boy Promotions' inaugural MMA event on November 24, 2018, but the fight never made it to fruition.
Other regional promotions
Grove was scheduled to face Casey Ryan at LXF 6 on March 20, 2020, but the event was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[29]
Ten years after their first bout with Grove lost by unanimous decision, Grove rematched Michał Materla on January 21, 2023, at KSW 78, losing the bout in the second round after being dropped and finished with ground and pound.[30]
Bare knuckle boxing
After three straight losses in Bellator, Grove signed to a new promotion, Bare Knuckle FC and debuted on August 25, 2018.[31] He faced Bruce Abramski and won the bout by unanimous decision.
In his sophomore bout in BKFC, Grove faced Marcel Stamps at BKFC 3 on October 20, 2018. He lost the fight via knockout.
Grove next faced fellow UFC veteran Hector Lombard at BKFC 12 on September 11, 2020.[32] He lost the fight via knockout in the first round.
Personal life
Grove and wife Anna, have six children together: two sons and four daughters.[33]
For the Bellator Middleweight World Championship. Halsey missed weight (188 lbs) and was stripped of the championship and only Grove was eligible to win the title.
