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EXCLUSIVE Q and A: Denis Kang talks UFC 105, Michael Bisping, and the Ebb and Flow of MMA
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Denis Kang has had his fair share of ups and downs in his long Mixed Martial Arts career. A career that saw the son of Korean and French parents, start a meager 7-7. All the while struggling to find a spot in a sport he loved so much.
A self admitted “fight junkie”, it would be hard pressed to find a more passionate and intelligent fighter in MMA. Fluent in 4 different languages and raised all over the world, Kang (32-11) has also seen every corner of this globe. The term "worldly" could safely define the man that is Denis Kang.
After the aforementioned losses, "The Super Korean" proceeded to rail off an amazing accomplishment in MMA, 21 straight wins without a loss.
After fighting overseas in the Pride FC organization, along with K-1 Hero’s and the Korean based Spirit MC, Kang finally made his way to the UFC in January of 2009. However he suffered a devastating loss to the very tough, but undervalued Alan Belcher at UFC 93. In fact, Kang who has battled inconsistency before, is currently 4-4 in his last 8 fights.
But it seems to this writer, that Kang wouldn’t want it any other way as he heads into his battle with Michael “The Count” Bisping (17-2) at UFC 105 in Manchester, England on November 14th. Because as you will see, Kang knows losses are inevitable, but it’s how you come back from those losses and what you do from fight to fight that make you a champion.
Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce you to Denis Kang.
Ryan McKinnell (www.Examiner.com) Well Denis, it’s been a while since we last heard from you. So with that said, how has life been since the Xavier Foupa-Pokam (20-10) fight?
DK: Very good man, very good. I’ve just been training as usual and I’m in south Florida right now just finishing up my training you know what I mean?
Ryan McKinnell (www.Examiner.com) For sure. I obviously have to ask you how the training is going, how your health is etc…
DK: Oh training is going good man--the health is great. I’m really just busting my ass right now and everything is coming along awesome.
Ryan McKinnell (www.Examiner.com) Good, good. Now I have to ask you about your hand. Your right hand has historically given you problems throughout your career and I was just wondering how it has been holding up for you?
DK: Well I mean, the last time I broke that hand was about 2 years ago, and to be honest, since that time it hasn’t been a problem what so ever.
Ryan McKinnell (www.Examiner.com) So there won’t be any tentativeness in the fight? You’ll be coming out firing as usual I’m assuming?
DK: Oh no man, not at all. I’ve been sparring at 100% down here, so no worries at all.
Ryan McKinnell (www.Examiner.com) Well that kind of brings me to my next point--since your relocation to ATT (Ed--American Top Team, super camp to many of MMA’s biggest stars) you’ve really become such a complete Mixed Martial Artist. Talk about what ATT means to you and the transformation it’s brought to you as a fighter.
DK: Oh man, it’s just amazing. It’s really been three years coming. I finally got my entry into the U.S. sorted out. So I’m really happy about that and I really feel like I have been blessed. You know I had the best of both worlds. I had the best of what Montreal had to offer and now I’m down here. Training in Montreal is awesome but down here, it’s just a different aspect.
Ryan McKinnell (www.Examiner.com) Definitely. And it’s not like you are at a lack of ridiculously amazing sparring partners down there.
DK: Absolutely not. I mean in one day I spar with Thiago Silva (14-1), Wilson Gouveia (12-6), Jorge Santiago (21-7), Thiago “Pitbull” Alves (16-6)--it really is just amazing.
Ryan McKinnell (www.Examiner.com) Well lets move on to the fight for a little bit. Now this will be another fight overseas for you--is that just old news to you, or does it still take time to get acclimated to the time difference and the pressure of fighting overseas?
DK: No, not at all. I mean it’s not my first time doing it and it really isn’t that big of a change to be honest. I mean I think it’s only 5 or 6 hours away and when I was fighting in Japan it was like 14 hours, ya know?
Ryan McKinnell (www.Examiner.com) Right. Now how early are you planning on arriving in England?
DK: We get there about 6 days before. Just enough time to acclimate to my surroundings, you know what I mean?
Ryan McKinnell (www.Examiner.com) For sure. What about fighting in Mike Bisping’s backyard? Do you think that is going to put more pressure on you, or do you think that him having that need to perform may affect him more?
DK: Well I don’t think it adds any pressure on me. I mean, if you look at my record, most of my fights have come overseas you know ? (laughs) It would actually probably be the opposite for me…well actually that’s not totally true, my last fight was at home. But you get what I’m saying right?
Ryan McKinnell (www.Examiner.com) Definitely. So you think it adds more pressure on Mike.
DK: Oh definitely. Especially since he is coming off a knockout loss, you know?
Ryan McKinnell (www.Examiner.com) Oh for sure, and I’m not rubbing it in his face but that was one devastating knock out.
DK: Oh yeah, that was some KO for sure! (laughs)
Ryan McKinnell (www.Examiner.com) You know and I guess that is what’s so great about sports…I had to cover UFC 100 with a heavy heart as I had some personal stuff going on in my life, and the only time during that night that I forgot about what was going on was when Henderson hit Bisping like that.
DK: Absolutely.
Ryan McKinnell (www.Examiner.com) And yeah, I guess what’s so awesome is that for that one little moment in time, it can allow you to forget certain things and to just enjoy.
DK: It was very satisfying. (laughs)
Ryan McKinnell (www.Examiner.com) (laugh) I mean it’s not like you have anything against the guy or anything, I mean you’ve never talked to him right?
DK: No I don’t think I’ve ever said a word to him, so….I mean the fight is not personal, and I prefer it not to be personal.
Ryan McKinnell (www.Examiner.com) That’s very true. You’ve never been one to bad mouth any fighter. In Bisping’s fight against Dan Henderson, it seemed as if Dan was trying to not let Mike be as elusive as he had been in the past with other opponents and he kept trying to close the distance and land that big right hand. I take it that is something you will be trying to copy.
DK: Oh absolutely. I’m always trying to land that big punch, but now it’s about what I need to be watching out for and what options I have, you know? I definitely try to use it different for each opponent.
Ryan McKinnell (www.Examiner.com) Yeah, and if you were looking at Mike Bisping from the point of giving your teammates advice on how to fight him, what would you say his flaws are as a Mixed Martial Artist?
DK: Um, that’s a tough one. I don’t know, I think his best strength is his cardio. He always comes in in great shape and you never really see him gas out or anything like that. And he also seems to have really good footwork as you saw in his last fight, as he is always backing up, ya know? So he’s a guy who runs a lot and likes to counter strike and make it tough for his opponent. We’ve also seen him jump forward and be more aggressive against….oh, I can’t remember who. So he can do a little bit of both. He can stand up and hurt you but he’s also pretty good on the ground. So I’d just say he’s a well rounded fighter with good cardio.
Ryan McKinnell (www.Examiner.com) And that combination always poses a different set of problems for a fighter.
DK: Absolutely.
Ryan McKinnell (www.Examiner.com) I think you were thinking of fellow Canadian, Jason Day, in the fight were Bisping just stormed forward.
DK: Yeah, he really took it to him that fight.
Ryan McKinnell (www.Examiner.com) You know, I have to ask you--inconsistency has never been your problem. I mean, you had an amazing winning streak, something like 20 fights, but recently you have suffered from some losses that weren’t expected. What do you attribute to that? Was it injuries? Was it mental? What exactly do you attribute to that little funk?
DK: Oh, you know, sometimes it’s just hard to get in your groove. You know what I mean? I took time off and…it’s just…incidents happen, injuries happen, and personal life happens. Sometimes things happen like that and it makes it look like….you know training isn’t going good or whatever, and that’s usually what it is. It’s not just any one thing, you know? Sometimes it just happens to feel like you are on a bad run. But everything always has a way of turning around you know? Before my winning streak, I was on a pretty bad streak as well, so I’m use to it.
Ryan McKinnell (www.Examiner.com) And that is one of the things I’ve noticed about you. You always seem to take your losses with a grain of salt. I guess it’s that old saying that fighting is 90% mental and 10% physical, you know what I’m saying?
DK: Exactly.
Ryan McKinnell (www.Examiner.com) And I’m of the opinion that it’s not how you win, it’s how you lose. Before you went on that crazy win streak, was there any one thing you attributed to that success? And can you draw any parallels from back then to now?
DK: For me it was when I knocked out Keith Rockel (12-4-1), in Boston. That fight really gave me a lot of confidence. I took the fight on short notice and then I went out there…and again it wasn’t my hometown…and I when I got to the ring I got boo’ed and it really gave me a big boost.
Ryan McKinnell (www.Examiner.com) Definitely. And that could be very similar with this Bisping fight, you know? The parallels could be drawn.
DK: Exactly! Similar circumstances, you know?
Ryan McKinnell (www.Examiner.com) Yup. You are definitely going to get boo’ed.
DK: Yup (laughs).
Ryan McKinnell (www.Examiner.com) (Laugh) I did want to ask you, how many fights are left on your UFC contract?
DK: As of right now, there are four. I signed an extension with this fight.
Ryan McKinnell (www.Examiner.com) Well that’s got to feel good to have that kind of security. Especially with all the cuts the UFC have been handing out as of late.
DK: Well, it’s kind of only one way (laughs). You know!? I can’t really fire them, but they can fire me! I mean, I guess I could quit but I don’t know. Can I quit? I haven’t even looked at my contract. (laughs). What am I gonna do, walk into Dana’s office and say, “Dana I quit!” I don’t think that would be too smart (laughs)!
Ryan McKinnell (www.Examiner.com) (laughs) I don’t know ask Rampage Jackson!
DK: Exactly! I mean, if you get a better offer from another company…called “Hollywood”…I don’t know (laughs), whatever.
Ryan McKinnell (www.Examiner.com) Also, changing topics, I wanted to ask you about fighting in Korea. I know fighting in Spirit MC (Korean based MMA org) meant the world to you. What is the situation like over there? I know you would love to defend your belt at some point.
DK: You know, I don’t know about Spirit. I think they are taking a little bit of a break from promoting, if not being done all together. I don’t think I’ll be defending my belt anytime soon though. But, I would like to GET my belt, the actual physical belt I mean. It’s a nice belt, ya know, and I won it three times I believe, and I would really, really, really like to have it (laughs). It’s the only belt I got! For now…
Ryan McKinnell (www.Examiner.com) Yeah. And you did a lot for those guys--headlining fight cards etc… Well, we will put the word out, “Denis Kang wants his Spirit belt!”
DK: Yeah man! It’s mine, that’s my belt--I broke my hand for that belt! That was the last time I broke my hand.
Ryan McKinnell (www.Examiner.com) That’s another thing that has to have you pretty pumped--the UFC’s expansion abroad and your chance to fight in Korea.
DK: Oh yeah, I hope so man that would be great. We aren’t there yet though. They’ve been talking about it for a while.
Ryan McKinnell (www.Examiner.com) Well yeah. That is understandable with all the politics etc…
DK: Yeah, for sure.
Ryan McKinnell (www.Examiner.com) No doubt that you would be excited if you got that call though!
DK: Yeah, absolutely I would jump all over that.
Ryan McKinnell (www.Examiner.com) And speaking of being pumped--you’ve have to be pretty excited that the UFC has signed Pride superstar Yoshihiro Akiyama (13-1). I mean, considering he handed you a pretty devastating loss a little while back. You’ve got to be thirsting to get back in there with him.
DK: Sure man, that would be great. At the same time, that isn’t a HUGE fight for me, you know? I mean if they called me with the opportunity, I would jump all over that in a heartbeat, but I’m not losing any sleep over it. I’m not bitter about the loss, the fight is a fight, but sure, I would love to fight him again. I think that would be a great fight for Korea!
Ryan McKinnell (www.Examiner.com) Yeah that would be for sure. Since we are on the subject, what do you think about Akiyama’s next fight with Wanderlei Silva (32-10-1) later in the year?
DK: Oh that’s going to be a great fight man. I think it depends on which Wanderlei Silva we see. I mean, as of late he’s had a pretty rough go of it, you know? I think he’s showing age and being a little “shop worn” as we say. He’s had a lot of rough fights. So honestly, I think it depends on the Wanderlei that shows up.
Ryan McKinnell (www.Examiner.com) I wanted to briefly talk about, before we get out of here, about you fighting for free, live on Spike TV. I mean this is a huge card. You have you vs. Bisping, (Dan) Hardy vs. (Mike) Swick, and then you have Randy Couture vs. Brandon Vera. This has all got to be sort of surreal to you.
DK: To be honest, I’m just trying to keep it all in perspective. For me, it’s really just about my fight. I mean there are other fights happening but I don’t really care. It’s like anybody who’s in a room sparring, like at ATT, we can all be sparring but you’re really only focused on what exactly you need to be doing. You just have to worry about your match, and that’s what I’m going to do. I know there are a bunch of great fights on this card but for me, it’s really just about what Denis Kang needs to do that night.
Ryan McKinnell (www.Examiner.com) Right, but it’s a nice little consolation prize after you win to sit down and watch a killer main event with Randy vs. Brandon. What do you think about the main event match?
DK: Yeah man, that will be nice. And man, Vera is so tough for anybody because he has such good Muay Thai and his kicks are so good. This is such a good match and a classic one too. It’s that long range striker vs. the inside brawler, because we all know Randy wants to get inside and in the clinch and work his dirty boxing. He’s fought longer guys than Vera, in Tim Sylvia, but Vera’s kicks and knees are just so sick, so we will see. You know, I think if Randy can neutralize him in the clinch and take him down and win out a decision that will be his best course of action. I also think he will be coming in very sharp because of the loss to Nogueira. I think Randy should take this one, but don’t sleep on Brandon Vera.
Ryan McKinnell (www.Examiner.com) Well thanks for the time again Denis, and best of luck on the 14th against Mike.
DK: No problem man, thank you buddy.
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