Blog: Local boys Penn, Grove fall at UFC 112
Jump Serve
with Austin Zavala
This past weekend, the less hyped of most sports got a large amount attention. Many bars around the island including The Shack, Buffalo Wild Wings, and Snappers Sports Bar opened shop early Saturday morning for the Ultimate Fighting Championship 112 live at 7:00 a.m. from Yas Islands in Abu Dhabi. Many of the Waikiki bars filled up early with die-hard fight fans wanting to grind on half-off special breakfast plates.
UFC 112 included two local-boys fighting in their respective weight divisions. To start the Maui native and winner of The Ultimate Fighter 3 reality TV show Kendall Grove faced middleweight Mark “The Filipino Wrecking Machine” Munoz. With a six-inch height advantage over Munoz, Grove quickly went to work in the first round. Grove was able to drop Munoz with a hard uppercut and fought off several of Munoz’s takedown attempts—turning almost three of them into submissions. After a successful first round, Munoz looked to improve by slipping out of a submission in the second round. He showed resilience when he caught the Wailuku boy with a series of unanswered blows. Before Munoz could continue his ground and pound attack the fight was called to a stop two-minutes and fifty-seconds into the second round declaring Munoz the winner by TKO.
The second match featured the popular BJ Penn matching up against Frankie “The Answer” Edgar of New Jersey. The huge underdog showed everyone in attendance why he was the answer, moving quick around “The Prodigy.” Edgar used speed and a solid stand-up attack to a unanimously decided five-round win over Penn to win the UFC Lightweight Championship. Edgar was persistent throughout the match, with attempt after attempt of takedowns and Penn quickly fighting it off. Penn seemed to lack any urgency especially in the later rounds as Edgar stuck to his game plan: moving in quick, getting his shots in, and getting right back out. Penn took Edgar’s best punch of the fight in the last round to his head but seemed unaffected. However, the Big Island boy did not show any real signs of retort. Penn’s last minute charge was just too little in the end.
Another big event that had many of the older crowd glued to their TV sets was the return of Tiger at the 2010 Masters Golf Tournament. Tiger opened his debut with a solid first and second round, finishing 6-under and a few strokes off the lead. However, an upsetting third round that featured four bogeys kept Tiger at -8 and four strokes back from leader Lee Westwood of the United Kingdom. Going into the final round, some fans still had hopes of Tiger actually winning, but it was another fan favorite who won the cheers of most fans as Phil Mickelson took home the green jacket and first major in four years. At the end of the day, it wasn’t the green jacket that took center stage—it was Tiger’s “C” game that stole the spotlight. Mickelson’s wife Amy didn’t attend a golf event since she was diagnosed with breast cancer 11 months prior to the Masters. She along with Phil’s family was in attendance, as he fought off tears thanking his wife at the end of the tournament.
With some big moments in sports this weekend, there is still much more in store for April. High school baseball is heating up along with the Hawaii summer. The NBA is getting ready for playoffs and so are many high schools team sports as they near the end of regular season play.
That’s it for now. Don’t forget to go for a run, swim, hike, play a pick-up game or just get out of your office, if you have one. Enjoy Hawaii and being healthy!