So I was out with some friends eating at a local sushi joint when my roommate Matt comes up to me and says "hey, isn't that that guy from the UFC sitting over there?" I say yea, that's Kendall Grove. So, Matt walks over to him, they chat a little bit and comes back. I asked "what'd he have to say?" Matt says "I told him you wanted to kick his ass."
So I'm about to shank Matt with a chopstick when Kendall walks up to the jukebox near us. I went up and introduced myself, shook his hand, told him I was a big fan and that my roommate is a compulsive liar. He was very cool, said he very much appreciated it, and to make sure to watch him on the 7th in Texas.
My friend Matt is about 6'5", 220. Kendall makes him look small. He's friggin big. Unfortunately I didn't get a pic with him, but I would have needed a step ladder to get in the same frame.
So that makes 4 fighters I've had the priveledge of meeting, 3 of whom were very cool. Frank Trigg was pretty much a dildo.
Not much of a story to tell... I met him in Oklahoma at a gym back when I was actually rolling many years ago. It was basically the same thing, walk up, introduce myself, and said something like "just wanted to tell you I like watching you fight" or something stupid like that. He looked at me like he was some super-celeb and said "uh huh". I just sat there for a second like "allrighty then", just turned around and walked off. I wasn't interrupting his dinner, his workout, nothing. He was just walking through a gym.
I mean, even if he was having a bad day he could have said "thanks man", shook my hand, and that would have been cool. But he gave off the distinct vibe of "why would I spend precious seconds talking to you?"
Years later I got a warm fuzzy feeling in my stomach watching Hughes and GSP choke him into a living death.