Denis Kang on his Move to the UFC, Paulo Filho and Steroids

After his signing with the UFC, I sent some questions to Denis Kang to get his thoughts on some of the sports issues and on his future in the sport. He signed the UFC contract coming off of an incredible destruction of Marvin “The Beastman” Eastman. Here’s how it went:

Josh Stein: As for your first fight in the UFC, do you have any prospective opponents yet?

Denis Kang: Not yet but I hope that they tell me soon and that I can fight early next year.

Josh: Is there anybody in the UFC middleweight division that you want to fight?

DK: Not yet, I just want to get in there for now and work my way up.

Josh: Who do you think is the #1 middleweight in the division and where do you think you fit into the rankings?

DK: Anderson Silva is the best right now. I need to make a statement by beating some guys to rank myself in that division. It`s not fair to rank myself when I haven’t even fought there yet.

Josh: You’ve had a few tough losses pretty recently, what have you learned from those?

DK: That you must take every fight as seriously as any title fight. You spent a lot of time in Pride, even as a runner up in the middleweight grand prix.

Josh: How has it been for you since they folded?

DK: Things have been ok, but everybody misses Pride. Starting over with the UFC is a very positive move for me.

Josh: How do you think you matchup with Anderson Silva?

DK: I think him and I would have a legendary bout. My style and his would matchup well.

Josh: There has been a little talk about the UFC/WEC merging and that brings Paulo Filho into the picture. How do you think you matchup with Filho?

DK: After watching WEC I can see that Filho has some personal problems in his life. Fighters have lives outside of fighting and sometimes family or other types of burdens can affect your performance. I hope Paulo can get better and be on top again.

Josh: There have been a lot of issues with steroids in MMA. Do you thinks that it’s a
systemic problem or just a few bad apples?

DK: I don’t think it`s a systematic problem at all, I think this will always be around and that is why we have testing.

Thanks to Denis for doing the interview. It’s much appreciated.

I can always be reached by emailing josh@mmaopinion.com.