Denis Kang

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	Name	Denis Kang
	Nickname	Super Korean
	Association	American Top Team / Tristar Gym
	Weight Class	Middleweight
	Height	5' 11" (180 cm.)
	Style	Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Boxing
	Birth Date	September 17, 1977
	Fighting Out Of	Vancouver, British Columbia
	Country	Canada

Denis Kang is a Canadian raised Korean-French mixed martial artist and PRIDE FC Welterweight Grand Prix finalist. Kang is a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt, originally trained by Marcus Soares. He competed in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) as a middleweight, but was released upon his loss to Michael Bisping.

Professional Record

Record	35 - 16 - 2 (Win – Loss – Draw) (2 NC)
Wins	12 (T)KOs 16 Submissions 6 Decisions
Losses	4 (T)KOs 8 Submissions 2 Decisions

Result	Opponent	Method	Event Title	Date	Round	Time	Notes

Loss	Melvin Manhoef	KO (Knee to the Body)	DREAM.18: Special NYE 2012	12/31/2012	1	0:50
Win	Hae Suk Son	KO (Punches)	Road FC 8: Bitter Rivals	6/16/2012	1	4:57
Loss	Shungo Oyama	TKO (Knees)	Road FC 5: Night of Champions	12/3/2011	1	4:30
Loss	Seung Bae Whi	TKO (Knees)	Road FC 3: Explosion	7/24/2011	2	3:18
Loss	Jesse Taylor	Submission (Rear Naked Choke)	BFL 8: Island Beatdown	5/28/2011	1	1:57
Win	Eun Soo Lee	Decision (Unanimous)	Road FC 2: Alive	4/16/2011	3	5:00
Draw	Paulo Filho	Draw	Impact FC 2 - The Uprising: Sydney	7/18/2010	3	5:00
Win	Dae Won Kim	Submission (Arm Triangle Choke)	W-1 MMA 5: Judgment Day	6/19/2010	1	1:49
Loss	Michael Bisping	TKO (Punches)	UFC 105: Couture vs. Vera	11/14/2009	2	4:24	Won Fight of the Night Honors
Win	Xavier Foupa-Pokam	Decision (Unanimous)	UFC 97: Redemption	4/18/2009	3	5:00
Loss	Alan Belcher	Submission (Guillotine Choke)	UFC 93: Franklin vs. Henderson	1/17/2009	2	4:36
Win	Marvin Eastman	TKO (Punches)	Raw Combat: Redemption	10/25/2008	1	0:48
Win	Jae Young Kim	KO	Spirit MC 18: The Champion	8/31/2008	1	1:31	Defended the Spirit MC Heavyweight Championship
Loss	Gegard Mousasi	Submission (Triangle Choke)	DREAM 2: Middleweight Grand Prix 2008 Opening Round	4/29/2008	1	3:10
Loss	Yoshihiro Akiyama	KO (Punch)	K-1 HERO's: HERO's 2007 in Korea	10/28/2007	1	4:45
Win	Jung Gyu Choi	Decision (Unanimous)	Spirit MC: Interleague 5	3/11/2007	3	5:00	Won the Spirit MC Heavyweight Championship
Loss	Kazuo Misaki	Decision (Split)	PRIDE Bushido 13	11/05/2006	2	5:00	PRIDE 2006 Welterweight Grand Prix Finals
Win	Akihiro Gono	Decision (Unanimous)	PRIDE Bushido 13	11/05/2006	2	5:00	PRIDE 2006 Welterweight Grand Prix Semifinals
Win	Amar Suloev	Submission (Rear Naked Choke)	PRIDE Bushido 12	8/26/2006	1	4:10	PRIDE 2006 Welterweight Grand Prix Quarterfinals
Win	Murilo Rua	KO (Punches)	PRIDE Bushido 11	6/04/2006	1	0:15	PRIDE 2006 Welterweight Grand Prix Opening Round
Win	Albert Basconcelles	TKO (Punches)	Spirit MC 8: Only One	4/22/2006	1	0:12
Win	Mark Weir	Submission (Knees)	PRIDE Bushido 10	4/02/2006	1	4:55
Win	Ron Fields	Submission (Rear Naked Choke)	AFC 14: Absolute Fighting Championships 14	12/10/2005	1	2:46
NC	Robert Villegas	No Contest	Spirit MC 7: Middleweight GP Final	10/29/2005	1	N/A
Win	Andrei Semenov	Decision (Unanimous)	PRIDE Bushido 8	7/17/2005	2	5:00
Win	Takahiro Oba	Submission (Armbar)	PRIDE Bushido 6	4/03/2005	1	4:24
Win	Alexei Veselovzorov	Submission (Anaconda Choke)	M-1 MFC: Heavyweight GP	12/04/2004	1	1:17
Win	Jin Ho Yang	TKO	Spirit MC 5: 2004 GP Unlimited	9/11/2004	1	0:49
Win	Jae Young Kim	Submission (Choke)	Spirit MC 5: 2004 GP Unlimited	9/11/2004	1	1:38
Win	Junpei Hamada	Submission (Armbar)	Spirit MC 5: 2004 GP Unlimited	9/11/2004	1	2:35
Win	Kobus Huisamen	TKO	Spirit MC 4: Revolution	6/12/2004	1	1:06
Win	Hyun Chul Cho	Submission (Rear Naked Choke)	Spirit MC 3: I Will Be Back!!!	4/10/2004	1	2:06
Win	Hyung Jun Kim	TKO (Punches)	Spirit MC: Interleague 1	2/07/2004	1	1:13
Win	Jae Young Kim	TKO (Punches)	Spirit MC: Interleague 1	2/07/2004	1	0:38
Draw	Andrei Semenov	Draw	M-1 MFC: Russia vs. the World 7	12/05/2003	1	10:00
Win	Stephan Potvin	TKO (Punches)	TKO 13: Ultimate Rush	9/06/2003	3	2:22
Win	Kaipo Kalama	Decision (Majority)	SB 30: Collision Course	6/13/2003	3	3:00
Win	Brendan Seguin	Submission (Armbar)	SB 30: Collision Course	6/13/2003	1	2:24
Win	Keith Rockel	KO (Punch)	USMMA 3: Ring of Fury	5/03/2003	2	2:59
Win	Chris Peak	Submission (Rear Naked Choke)	WFF 4: Civil War	4/04/2003	1	0:57
Loss	Jason Miller	Submission (Rear Naked Choke)	EC 50: Extreme Challenge 50	2/23/2003	2	1:41
Loss	Joe Doerksen	Submission (Triangle Choke)	UCC 11: The Next Level	10/11/2002	1	4:49
Win	Pat Healy	Submission (Guillotine Choke)	RITR 7: Rumble in the Ring 7	7/20/2002	1	N/A
Win	Shane Biever	Submission (Armlock)	WFF 2: World Freestyle Fighting 2	6/22/2002	1	N/A
NC	Dennis Hallman	No Contest	WFF 1: World Freestyle Fighting 1	4/13/2002	2	N/A	Hallman accidentally headbutted Kang and opened a cut above the eye
Loss	Marty Armendarez	TKO (Punches)	IFC WC 15: Warriors Challenge 15	8/31/2001	1	3:52
Loss	Osami Shibuya	Submission (Rear Naked Choke)	Pancrase: Proof 3	5/13/2001	3	3:45
Loss	Keiichiro Yamamiya	Decision (Majority)	Pancrase: Trans 7	12/04/2000	2	3:00
Win	Minoru Suzuki	Submission (Back Injury)	Pancrase: 2000 Anniversary Show	9/24/2000	1	3:43
Win	Lonnie Canida	TKO	WCT: Western Canada's Toughest	3/18/2000	1	N/A
Loss	Joe Slick	Submission (Arm Triangle Choke)	EC 24: Extreme Challenge 24	5/15/1999	1	5:53
Loss	Jacen Flynn	Submission (Guillotine Choke)	BRI 2: Bas Rutten Invitational 2	4/24/1999	1	4:07
Win	Tom Bolger	Submission (Triangle Choke)	BRI 2: Bas Rutten Invitational 2	4/24/1999	1	1:55
Win	Fadi Habib	TKO	UWC 2: Ultimate Warrior Challenge 2	11/1/1998	1	N/A
Win	Eric Harcrow	Submission (Rear Naked Choke)	UWC: Ultimate Warrior Challenge	8/2/1998	1	0:15

Biography

Denis Kang was born in the French overseas colony 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.

Mixed Martial Arts Career

Denis Kang's mixed martial arts career began in 1998 at the Ultimate Warrior Challenge in Vancouver, 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 5 of his next 6 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, Denis Kang continued his winning streak by knocking out Chute Boxe Academy 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's longtime girlfriend and stable-mate Shelby Walker had killed herself shortly before Bushido 13.

Kang had only one match in 2007 after breaking his hand 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 Middleweight Granx Prix, 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.

UFC Career

Denis Kang made his UFC debut on January 17, 2009 against Alan Belcher despite suffering from an ankle injury. Although dominating the fight, Kang lost by Guillotine Choke at the end of round two after a takedown attempt.

His next fight was against UFC newcomer Xavier Foupa-Pokam at UFC 97: Redemption on April 18, 2009. Kang defeated Foupa-Pokam by Decision (Unanimous).

He returned at UFC 105: Couture vs. Vera on November 14, 2009 to face British fighter Michael Bisping on the event's main card. Kang dropped Bisping in the first round, but Bisping bounced back, using some impressive ground and pound to end the fight at 4:24 of the second round. The bout earned both fighters the Fight of the Night Honors. Though Kang was currently 1-2 in the UFC, the promotion still released him from his contract after the loss to Bisping.

Post UFC

Kang was expected to return at a Warrior-1 event, where he was to face Vernon White, but he was forced off the card and replaced by another former UFC fighter, Jason MacDonald. He finally returned, competing for the same promotions, defeating Dae Won Kim by way of Arm Triangle Choke in the first round.

His next fight took place at Impact FC 2 - The Uprising: Sydney, where he Drew with former WEC Middleweight Champion Paulo Filho. The bout was initially slated for PRIDE's 2006 Middleweight Grand Prix, but was scratched due to injury. The mostly grappling affair resulted in no clear-cut winner, which was reflected in the range of scores. One judge had it 29-28 for Filho, one had it 30-27 for Kang, and the third had it 29-29.