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.
Ultimate Fighting Championship In his first bout since the show on October 10, 2006, Grove defeated then-undefeated
Chris Price via submission (elbows) in the first round at
Ortiz vs. Shamrock 3: The Final Chapter. 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. 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. Grove then defeated
Jason Day by TKO at
UFC 96. In his next appearance at
UFC 101, Grove lost to
Ricardo Almeida by unanimous decision. 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. Grove won via split decision (28–29, 30–27, and 29–28). Grove next fought
Demian Maia on December 4, 2010, at
The Ultimate Fighter: Team GSP vs. Team Koscheck Finale. Grove lost the fight via unanimous decision (29–28, 29–28, and 29–28). Grove faced
Tim Boetsch on May 28, 2011, at
UFC 130 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. 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 fought
Ikuhisa Minowa at
ProElite 3 on January 21, 2012. He won the fight by unanimous decision.
Independent Promotions Grove headlined against
Jay Silva on February 16 in
Las Vegas, Nevada. 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. Grove defeated Gandulla by TKO in the second round.
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.
Bellator MMA Grove made his promotional debut at
Bellator 104 on October 18, 2013, with a three-round decision victory over
Joe Vedepo. In 2014, Grove entered the Bellator Season 10 Middleweight tournament. He faced
Brett Cooper at
Bellator 114 on March 28, 2014. He lost the fight via knockout in the second round. Grove faced former
Bellator Light Heavyweight champion Christian M'Pumbu on October 3, 2014, at
Bellator 127. He won the fight via submission in the second round. Grove faced
Brandon Halsey for the
Bellator Middleweight Championship on May 15, 2015, at
Bellator 137. He lost the fight via TKO in the fourth round. Grove next faced
Joey Beltran at
Bellator 143 on September 25, 2015. He won the fight via TKO in the third round. Grove then faced Francisco France at
Bellator 150 on February 26, 2016. He again won the fight via knockout, this time in the first round. Following two knockout victories, Grove faced former
Bellator middleweight champion,
Alexander Shlemenko, in the main event at
Bellator 162. Grove lost the fight via TKO 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. Grove faced
John Salter at
Bellator 181 on July 14, 2017. He lost the fight via technical submission in the first round. Grove faced
A.J. Matthews at
Bellator 193 on January 26, 2018. He lost the fight via split decision and was subsequently released from the promotion.
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. 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. ==Bare knuckle boxing==