Neil "Goliath" Grove Interview
MMA Spot - On The Spot ~ Neil “Goliath” Grove
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When the upstart Bellator Fighting Championships organization decided to hold its first-ever heavyweight tournament during the upcoming third season, many speculated that it would feature the same mix of prospects, journeymen looking for a shot at glory, and established names with a bit of an international flare thrown in.
Heavyweight UFC veteran Neil "Goliath" Grove fits the bill as the established name and also as an international talent, hailing from England by way out South Africa, where he played semi-pro rugby before moving to England and taking up karate under a judo sensei that would ultimately lead him to his fighting life in MMA.
Grove holds an impressive 8-2-1 record while fighting strictly in the U.K., and all eight of his wins have come via knockout. The only two losses for the “Goliath” were at the hands of recent UFC signee Rob Broughton and to Mike Ciesnolevicz during Grove's first and only UFC fight.
MMASpot.net was recently able to catch up with the mammoth heavyweight at his home in England, where he will be until he travels to the U.S. for the first time next month to fight in front of Americans for the first time.
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David McKinney: Why did you decide to sign with Bellator?
Neil Grove: My manager is Ken Pavia, and I just recently signed with him. I’ve done enough in the British scene when it comes to MMA, and the best fighters are in America. It’s just been a dream of mine to fight in the States. With Bellator being one of the biggest and best fighting championships in America, it was smart for me to make this move.
DM: Do you have a different mindset fighting in a tournament? Do you try to finish fights earlier?
NG: I’ve never gone into a fight wanting to go the full three rounds. I like to fight early, and I’ve been training quite hard in wrestling with a sambo trainer and it’s given me more confidence—obviously because I like to strike. Learning about wrestling has given me more confidence with my standup skills. I like to knock people out. I don’t go into a fight thinking about fighting the whole three rounds; I want to go in there and do the job as quickly as I can.
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DM: Your only two losses are to Rob Broughton and Mike Ciesnolevicz. What have you learned from those fights?
NG: To be honest with you, they’re both sore spots. I think in the Broughton fight the scoring wasn’t right. We did go down to the ground and I overturned him, and I was in a dominant position and unfortunately the referee kept standing us up. I did speak to him afterward and he said that the crowd wanted a knockout. I just think maybe it’s the lack of experience of what MMA is about, because MMA is not just about striking and it’s not just about wrestling—it’s a combination of the two. That fight is a sore point in my career of fighting.
The fight with Ciesnolevicz, not a lot of people know, but during his first takedown attempt I landed on his knee and I broke two ribs and I couldn’t stand up. So basically I had to outwrestle a wrestler. Obviously at the time I was still learning, and he got the heel hook and tapped me. I have no problems with losing; I know what it feels like. Like you said, you do learn from it. I learned from my fight with Rob Broughton not to allow the fight to get judged by scoring, and with Mike, he’s a good wrestler, and you sort of underestimate guys sometimes. I know for a fact that if I would have connected then he was going to go down. But it was a great moment fighting for me in the UFC and in front of a local crowd.
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