In a middleweight clash between two former contenders looking to get back on the upper tier of the division,

In the first round, Almeida forced Grove back against the cage, but was unable to get him down early. Almeida landed a sharp right then caught a kick but again failed to get the take down until there was a little less than two minutes left. Grove got guard and threw upkicks and elbows while avoiding downward return fire. Almeida passed to side control and worked for Grove's back with a minute left. Grove fought back to his feet only to get slammed down again.

In the second, Almeida quickly got Grove down, fending off a guillotine attempt on landing. Then Grove nearly secured an arm bar but the jiu jitsu champion escaped after a close call. Grove locked on a body triangle from his back, but Almeida quickly passed to half-guard. He briefly got side control and landed elbows from the top. With about a minute left, Almeida turned it up but Grove quickly regained his feet. Grove landed a hard knee and an uppercut to the Brazilian's face before being taken down again.

In the final round, Almeida came out throwing leg kicks before getting another takedown. Grove got back to his feet and escaped back to the center of the ring. Grove landed a left hook before Almeida pulled guard. Grove wanted no part of that and backed off. He drove Almeida back against the cage and landed knees and foot stomps before getting taken down with slightly over two minutes left. Grove worked for an omaplata to no avail as the one minute mark approached. With 0:30 left, Grove got back to his feet and flailed for the KO. Almeida forced him against the cage to end the fight.

Kendall Grove came in off two straight wins against the late UFC legend Evan Tanner and a knockout victory over Jason Day at UFC 96.

Ricardo Almeida came in off a unanimous decision win over Matt Horwich at UFC Fight Night 18 after he dropped an effort via split decision to Patrick Cote at UFC 86.