Maui’s Kendall Grove lands a punch to John Salter during their fight at Bellator 181 on July 14, 2017. Grove, who hasn’t fought in MMA since 2019, makes his return against Michal Materla on Saturday KSW 78 in Szczecin, Poland. BELLATOR MMA photo
PUKALANI — Kendall Grove was getting in a little quality family time on Saturday, just a day before leaving for Poland for his first mixed martial arts bout in more than three years.
Grove, the Baldwin High School graduate who turned 40 in November, was watching daughter Teata Mata’afa-Grove compete for the Bears in Maui Interscholastic League wrestling meet No. 1.
He is set for a Saturday showdown against Michal Materla in KSW 78 in Szczecin, Poland. It will be his first MMA bout since beating Anthony Ruiz in World Fighting Championships 110 on Aug. 10, 2019, in War Memorial Gym.
Grove lost a decision to Materla in 2013.
“This fight has been materializing for the last 10 years,” Grove said between his daughter’s matches on Saturday at Kamehameha Schools Maui. “It was supposed to happen right after the first time, but then I signed with Bellator and that kind of blew it up. And then fast forward, here we are, planets aligned, stars are shining and it’s happening now.
Kendall Grove sits with daughter Teata Mata‘afa-Grove, a freshman at Baldwin High School, during MIL wrestling meet No. 1 on Saturday at Kamehameha Schools Maui. The Maui News / ROBERT COLLIAS photo
“So, I’m excited to get back in there.”
Grove is 24-18 in MMA competition, and 1-2 in bare knuckle boxing — his last fight of any kind was a BKFC loss to Hector Lombard on Sept. 11, 2020.
“I fought him to the business, last time we went an extra round, but I lost, I got taken down,” Grove said of his loss to Materla 10 years ago. “No excuses, I lost, but I beat him up. I broke his face. Yeah, so it’s exciting to see how he’s changed, how I’ve changed, and running it back, one more time.
“It was voted best fight of that year, bloodiest fight of that year.”
Grove said KSW is “Europe’s largest MMA promotion and a lot of Polish stars come out of there.”
Grove has fought in Poland twice, but not since 2013. On short notice, he took a fight and lost to Mamed Khalidov in 2012 and then lost a KSW championship battle against Materla the next year.
“I fought Mamed on a week’s notice, it’s like I did them a favor, so they hooked me up with a title fight, I did good and like I said I signed with Bellator after and here we are 10 years later,” Grove said.
Grove said his emotions are running across the board.
“A little bit of everything — nervous, anxious, scared, happy, excited,” he said. “You name it, but it definitely feels good to start training for myself, focusing on myself and trying to go out there and do what I still love to do. I’m very blessed to still have the platforms that I still have to do it — and the big platforms, like KSW, Europe’s biggest organization.”
Grove said he has been seriously training for this fight for about eight weeks. He had a key training trip to Las Vegas about a month ago to prepare even more intensely.
“I feel ready, I feel more than ready,” he said. “I did a 10-day camp in Vegas with Brad Tavares, Puna Soriano … all the Hawaii boys at Xtreme Couture (MMA training center), did great. That helped me make me believe that I still got it because I could hang with some contenders in the UFC right now, some young boys.
“That was about four weeks ago and I feel way stronger and better. I had a good camp. I’ve been working with Kahai Sevilla for my strength and conditioning, Wally Ballao with my mitts and boxing and staying sharp. Just everyone at I and I MMA Academy, Wai Side Jiu-Jitsu, my academy.”
Grove is hopeful that he is opening doors in the sport for Maui youngsters. He runs his own I and I MMA Academy, where he has 80 or so clients, and has been working with Wai Side Jiu-Jitsu to prepare for this fight.
“All the boys have been helping me, all the guys coming from all across Maui every Friday for open sparring,” he said. “Thank you guys, thanks so much for the help and, yeah, I definitely feel blessed this time. I got to train a lot at home with a lot of up-and-comers, a lot of light up-and-comers, but nonetheless still good training and I’m excited.”
Grove turned 40 on Nov. 12. He points to Randy Couture as evidence that MMA fighting at 40 can be done successfully.
“I was hoping to be more financially set, but I’m blessed, I’m privileged to continue to do what I love to do and support my family and have a good group around me now,” he said. “My gym, all my gym parents, young keiki students, their parents rally behind me. It feels good to have that community support. I always had it, but it’s different now because I’m involved in a lot of kids’ lives.”
* Robert Collias is at rcollias@mauinews.com.
Maui’s Kendall Grove lands a punch to John Salter during their fight at Bellator 181 on July 14, 2017. Grove, who hasn’t fought in MMA since 2019, makes his return against Michal Materla on Saturday KSW 78 in Szczecin, Poland. BELLATOR MMA photo 
Kendall Grove sits with daughter Teata Mata‘afa-Grove, a freshman at Baldwin High School, during MIL wrestling meet No. 1 on Saturday at Kamehameha Schools Maui. The Maui News / ROBERT COLLIAS photoToday's breaking news and more in your inbox
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