Denis Kang (September 17, 1977-) is a Korean-French-Canadian mixed
martial artist considered to be one of the best in his weight class. He
currently competes in PRIDE Fighting Championships and has a
professional MMA record of 26-8-1 as of 11/5/06. Kang is a Brazilian
Jiu-Jitsu black belt, originally trained by Marcus Soares.
Biography
Denis Kang was born on the French island of Saint-Pierre and Miquelon to
a Korean father and French mother. He and his family relocated to
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada in 1988.
MMA career
Denis Kang's MMA career began in 1998 at the Ultimate Warrior Challenge
in Vancouver, Canada. Kang was successful in his debut fight, winning by
Rear Naked Choke Submission over Eric Harcrow. Unfortunately, the
majority of his early fighting career would progress on a rocky path.
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 NC in his first 15 fights, with a few convincing defeats. It was at
this time that Kang completely dedicated himself to mixed martial arts
and began progressing into a complete fighter. He was a student of
Professor Marcus Soares (Carlson Gracie Team) and his training partners
have included several notables, including Stephan Kesting of
Grapplearts.com with whom he
has made instructional videos that can be found on his official website.
After winning 5 of his next 6 fights, Kang signed a contract with SPIRIT
MC, an upstart MMA organization in South Korea. Denis saw this not only
as a financial opportunity, but also as a chance to see his father
again. Denis went 5-0 in Korea and was crowned the Spirit MC Heavyweight
Champion. Following this, Denis relocated to Florida and joined the
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 PRIDE
debut at Bushido 6, where he defeated his Japanese opponent Takahiro Oba
via an 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 Bushido 10. In between this fight and his next
in 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 member Murilo
"Ninja" Rua in 15 seconds in the first round of the PRIDE Bushido
Welterweight Grand Prix (middleweight under NSAC weight guidelines). At
Bushido 12 (08/25/2006), Denis dominated and 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. During the
tournament Kang tore his bicep
- From
wikipedia.org
Official Website:
www.deniskang.com