It’s been talked about and rumored for what seems like weeks, and there’s now finally some validity to support the speculation.

Kendall Grove (7-3) is tentatively scheduled to fight Alan Belcher (9-2) in a middleweight showdown at UFC Fight Night 9 on April 5, according to MMAWeekly.com.

I’ve been a little “salty” all day, as one reader so eloquently put it. But, this is a fight that I can get excited about.

Both of these guys are tough, exciting and rising in the 185-pound division.

Grove, of course, earned his spot in the UFC by winning season three of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF). Since beating Ed Herman at the TUF 3 Finale, Grove went on to beat the snot out of Chris Price at Ortiz vs. Shamrock: The Final Chapter.

In fact, he broke his hand during the fight and has been recovering this entire time.

Belcher, on the other hand, got called up to the big show after an extremely busy 2006. Including his two UFC fights, “The Talent” fought nine times last year — three of those fights were all in the same night and he won each one of them.

He’s coming off of a spectacular knockout of Jorge Santiago (12-7) at UFC Fight Night at Miramar in December. Belcher also performed incredibly well in his UFC debut against Yushin Okami (19-3) at UFC 62 only to lose the bout via unanimous decision.

Again, this is a nice match up that should end early.

I hope it happens.