Denis Kang

Denis Kang (born September 17, 1977) is a retired Canadian professional mixed martial artist who most recently competed in the Middleweight division. A professional competitor since 1998, Kang has formerly competed for the UFC, PRIDE, DREAM, Impact FC, M-1 Global, K-1 HERO'S, ROAD FC, and Pancrase. In his prime he was ranked one of the top fighters in the world and scored notable wins over Pat Healy, Marvin Eastman, Akihiro Gono and Murilo Rua.

Background Kang was born in the French overseas collectivity of Saint Pierre and Miquelon to a Korean father and French mother. He and his family relocated to the Canary Islands and finally North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, in 1988 when he was 11 years old. During this period Kang trained multiple martial arts styles. such as Wrestling, Judo, Taekwondo, and Kyokushin Karate. After some years from their arrival to Vancouver, he started taking Hapkido lessons by encouragement of his parents. Kang transitioned into Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Kickboxing in high school because he wanted to improve in his ground game more than practice self-defense.

Mixed martial arts career

Early career Kang's MMA career began in 1998 at the Ultimate Warrior Challenge in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Kang was successful in his debut fight, winning by submission (rear naked choke) over Eric Harcrow. Kang would go on to win his next 2 fights before going 2–5 over his next 8 with one no contest against Dennis Hallman. He would go 7–7 with one no contest in his first 15 fights, with a few convincing defeats.

After winning five of his next six fights, Kang signed a contract with Spirit MC, a South Korea MMA organization. Denis went 5–0 while fighting in Korea and was crowned the Spirit MC Heavyweight Champion. Following this, Denis relocated to Florida and joined American Top Team.

It was at this time that Kang caught the attention of the PRIDE Fighting Championships. Kang signed a contract with PRIDE and made his debut at PRIDE Bushido 6, where he defeated Japanese opponent Takahiro Oba via armbar at 4:24 of round one. Under the Korean banner, Denis went on to win his next two fights in PRIDE, with a victory coming over Englishman Mark Weir at PRIDE Bushido 10. In between fights for Pride, Denis fought American Albert Basconcelles and knocked him out within 12 seconds of the opening bell. At Bushido 11, Kang continued his winning streak by knocking out Chute Boxe member Murilo "Ninja" Rua in 15 seconds in the first round of the PRIDE Bushido Welterweight (183 lb) Grand Prix. At Bushido 12, Denis submitted Armenian Amar Suloev via rear naked choke to advance to the semi-final round of the Welterweight Grand Prix. With this win, Kang was then 18–0–1 in his last 19 contests. However, after advancing through the semi-final round of the Bushido tournament and beating Akihiro Gono on November 5, 2006, he was defeated by Kazuo Misaki in the final at Bushido 13. Kang had torn his right biceps muscle earlier that night in his win over Gono.

Kang had only one match in 2007 after breaking his hand (an injury that will reappear over and over again) in a match against Jungkyu Choi for the Spirit MC Heavyweight Championship on March 11. Kang won via unanimous decision but was unable to compete for several months.

After the contract termination of PRIDE, Kang moved to K-1 Hero's maintaining the championship of Spirit MC. Kang made his K-1 Hero's debut on October 28, 2007, in "K-1 Hero's in Seoul". His opponent was Yoshihiro Akiyama who was returning to MMA after a 10-month suspension. Kang lost via TKO.

Kang next fight was on April 29, 2008, in the opening round of the Dream 2: Middleweight Grand Prix 2008 First Round, losing to Gegard Mousasi via triangle choke.

On August 30, 2008, Kang defended his Spirit MC Heavyweight Championship by defeating Kim Jae Young by TKO due to strikes at 1:31 of the first round.

Kang defeated UFC veteran Marvin Eastman by TKO on October 25, 2008, at "Raw Combat: Redemption" in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The fight lasted 48 seconds.

Ultimate Fighting Championship Kang made his UFC debut on January 17, 2009, against Alan Belcher despite suffering from ankle injury. Although Kang controlled the fight, he lost by guillotine choke at the end of round two after a takedown attempt.

Kang redeemed himself with a victory over Xavier Foupa-Pokam at UFC 97 by unanimous decision.

Kang faced Michael Bisping on November 14, 2009, at UFC 105. In an interview about his fight with Bisping, Kang revealed he wanted a title fight with Anderson Silva. Bisping TKO'd Kang in the 2nd round. Even though Bisping was the crowd favorite in his home town Manchester and Kang was being booed on, Kang dropped Bisping with a right hand in the first round. Kang followed Bisping to the floor and attempted submissions, but Bisping defended well and neutralised Kang's attacks despite Kang briefly having full mount. The fight was awarded Fight of the Night honours, giving both Kang and Bisping a $40,000 bonus check.

Kang was cut from the UFC on Dec. 9 2009, along with Brock Larson, Rolando Delgado and Jason Dent. Kang announced that he had signed with W1 MMA, and that he would fight for their vacant middleweight title on December 18, 2010, in Montreal, Quebec.

Post-UFC Denis defeated Dae Won Kim at W-1: Judgment day. Kang faced off against former WEC Middleweight Champion Paulo Filho on July 18, 2010, at an Impact Fighting Championships event. The fight was declared a split draw.

Denis joined the Korean MMA promotion ROAD FC by signing a multi-fight non-exclusive deal.

Denis lost to Melvin Manhoef by KO due to a knee to the body early in the first round of their DREAM 18 New Year's Eve fight at the end of 2012.

Professional grappling career Kang competed in the first ADCC North American trial in 2002, winning gold in the under 88kg division. This earned him an invite to ADCC 2003, where he lost on points to Reese Andy in the opening round.

Personal life Kang has two younger brothers. His youngest brother Julien is an actor and model based in South Korea.

Championships and accomplishments

Mixed martial arts PRIDE Fighting Championships 2006 PRIDE Welterweight Grand Prix Runner-Up Spirit MC Spirit MC Heavyweight (+80 kg) Championship (One time; Last) Spirit MC Grand Prix 2004 Championship Ultimate Fighting Championship Fight of the Night (One time) ROAD FC Fight of the Night (One time)

Mixed martial arts record Loss

Melvin Manhoef TKO (knee to the body) DREAM 18

Tokyo, Japan Win

Hae Suk Son KO (punches) Road FC 8: Bitter Rivals

Wonju, South Korea Loss

Shungo Oyama TKO (knees) Road FC 5: Night of Champions

Seoul, South Korea Loss

Seung Bae Whi TKO (knees) Road FC 3: Explosion

Seoul, South Korea Catchweight (190 lbs) bout. Loss

Jesse Taylor Submission (rear-naked choke) Battlefield Fight League 8: Island Beatdown

Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada Win

Eun Soo Lee Decision (unanimous) Road FC 2: Alive

Seoul, South Korea Draw

Paulo Filho Draw (split) Impact FC 2

Sydney, Australia Win

Dae Won Kim Submission (arm-triangle choke) W-1: Judgment day

Laval, Quebec, Canada Loss

Michael Bisping TKO (knees to the body & punches) UFC 105

Manchester, England Win

Xavier Foupa-Pokam Decision (unanimous) UFC 97

Montreal, Quebec, Canada Loss

Alan Belcher Submission (guillotine choke) UFC 93

Dublin, Ireland Win

Marvin Eastman KO (punches) Raw Combat: Redemption

Calgary, Alberta, Canada Win

Jae Young Kim KO (punches and stomp) Spirit MC

Seoul, South Korea Loss

Gegard Mousasi Submission (triangle choke) Dream 2: Middleweight Grand Prix 2008 First Round

Saitama, Japan Loss

Yoshihiro Akiyama KO (punches) Hero's 2007 in Korea

Seoul, South Korea Win

Jung Gyu Choi Decision (majority) Spirit MC

Seoul, South Korea Loss

Kazuo Misaki Decision (split) PRIDE Bushido 13

Yokohama, Japan Win

Akihiro Gono Decision (unanimous) PRIDE Bushido 13

Yokohama, Japan Win

Amar Suloev Submission (one-arm strangle) PRIDE Bushido 12

Nagoya, Japan Win

Murilo Rua KO (punches) PRIDE Bushido 11

Saitama, Japan Win

Albert Basconcelles TKO (punches) Spirit MC

Seoul, South Korea Heavyweight bout. Win

Mark Weir TKO (submission to knees) PRIDE Bushido 10

Tokyo, Japan Win

Ron Fields Submission (rear-naked choke) Absolute Fighting Championships 14

Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States NC

Robert Villegas No Contest Spirit MC

Seoul, South Korea Win

Andrei Semenov Decision (unanimous) PRIDE Bushido 8

Nagoya, Japan Win

Takahiro Oba Submission (armbar) PRIDE Bushido 6

Yokohama, Japan Win

Alexei Vezelozorov Submission (choke) M-1 MFC: Heavyweight GP

Moscow, Russia Return to Middleweight. Win

Jin Ho Yang TKO (punches) Spirit MC

Seoul, South Korea Win

Jae Young Kim Submission (arm-triangle choke) Spirit MC

Seoul, South Korea Win

Junpei Hamada Submission (armbar) Spirit MC

Seoul, South Korea Win

Kobus Huisamen TKO (punches) Spirit MC

Seoul, South Korea Win

Hyun Chul Cho Submission (rear-naked choke) Spirit MC

Seoul, South Korea Win

Hyung Jun Kim TKO (punches) Spirit MC

Seoul, South Korea Win

Jae Young Kim TKO (punches) Spirit MC

Seoul, South Korea Return to Heavyweight. Draw

Andrei Semenov Draw M-1 MFC: Russia vs. The World 7

St. Petersburg, Russia Win

Stephan Potvin TKO (punches) TKO Major League MMA

Montreal, Quebec, Canada Win

Kaipo Kalama Decision (majority) SB 30: Collision Course

Honolulu, Hawaii, United States Win

Brendan Seguin Submission (armbar) SB 30: Collision Course

Honolulu, Hawaii, United States Win

Keith Rockel KO (punch) USMMA 3: Ring of Fury

Boston, Massachusetts, United States Catchweight (195 lbs) bout. Win

Chris Peak Submission (rear-naked choke) World Freestyle Fighting 4

Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada Loss

Jason Miller Submission (rear-naked choke) Extreme Challenge 50

Salt Lake City, Utah, United States Loss

Joe Doerksen Submission (triangle choke) UCC 11: The Next Level

Montreal, Quebec, Canada Win

Pat Healy Submission (guillotine choke) Rumble in the Ring 7

Auburn, Washington, United States Win

Shane Biever Submission (armlock) World Freestyle Fighting 2

Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada NC

Dennis Hallman No Contest World Freestyle Fighting 1

Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada Loss

Marty Armendarez TKO (punches) IFC WC 15: Warriors Challenge 15

Oroville, California, United States Return to Middleweight. Loss

Osami Shibuya Submission (rear-naked choke) Pancrase: Proof 3

Tokyo, Japan Heavyweight debut. Loss

Keiichiro Yamamiya Decision (majority) Pancrase: Trans 7

Tokyo, Japan Light Heavyweight debut. Win

Minoru Suzuki TKO (back injury) Pancrase: 2000 Anniversary Show

Yokohama, Japan Win

Lonnie Canida TKO (punches) Western Canada's Toughest

Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada Loss

Joe Slick Submission (arm-triangle choke) Extreme Challenge 24

Salt Lake City, Utah, United States Loss

Jacen Flynn Submission (guillotine choke)

Win

Tom Bolger Submission (triangle choke)

Win

Fadi Habib TKO (punches) Ultimate Warrior Challenge 2

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Win

Eric Harcrow Submission (rear-naked choke) Ultimate Warrior Challenge

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Kickboxing record Legend:

Submission grappling record ResultOpponentMethodEventDateRoundTimeNotesLoss Reese Andy Points 2003 ADCC (Under 87.9 kg)