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.

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Brandt DeLorenzo and Josh Stein talk predictions for WEC 36, the news around Shane Ott’s motorcycle accident, Denis Kang’s signing with UFC, and some talk around UFC 91. This is the eighth episode of the MMA Opinion “Opinionated” podcast.

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I feel a little prophetic, today, given that it was only a few days ago I was talking about Kang’s status in the sport and the position he holds given his loss to Mousasi.

American Top Team came out today and announced that the Canadian signed with the American MMA monopoly. It looks like a four fight deal, but that’s the extent of the information that has been released on it at this point.

In terms of a first matchup for Kang, there are a lot of names that jump immediately to mind. The first, though, is that he might fight Paulo Filho in Filho’s inevitable arrival in the UFC once the WEC division begins the assimilation process. That was one of those matchups we never got to see in Pride and might be interesting in the Octagon.

The other is that Kang will be built up with a fight against a no name, and that seems like the most likely option to me. Kang is a solid fighter, and it will be interesting to see how his style translates to the Octagon. I don’t think he’s going to gain any new advantages, but I don’t expect him to lose anything either.

This is a solid internationally recognized fighter with a game that has been well documented in the sport.

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Some people say that there is no yardstick for greatness, and in some senses they are probably right, but for the middleweight division there’s one fighter that has tested the mettle of many fighters, separating the men from the boys. There are the Elvis Sinosic-esque gatekeepers, less established fighters who will push the pace with an up-and-comer to see if he can handle the pain, but Denis Kang is a different kind of gatekeeper, and he may hold the keys to the top ten.

In the Japanese market, Kang sets a great standard for success, and his only recent losses are to fighters quickly establishing themselves in the top ten. He went the distance to a razor close decision with Kazuo Misaki. His losses to Akiyama and Mousasi have called into question whether or not he is really a top fighter, but perhaps the real question should be whether or not this establishes Akiyama and Mousasi as top ten fighters.

Mousasi’s win in the Dream Grand Prix, especially his win in the finals over Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza, established him as one of the greatest fighters in the middleweight division, and the king of the Japanese market. The controversial fight with Sakuraba marred Akiyama’s image a little bit, but this is still a well established fighter and a guy who is one of the top up-and-comers in the sport.

Kang has been beaten twice, by two solid fighters, but it seems more and more like he may be a gatekeeper. He has separated the upper tier of the Eastern 185ers from the pack by beating Amar Suloev, Mark Wier, Akihiro Gono, Murilo Rua and Andrei Seminov, and that’s what makes him interesting.

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What a change of pace from DREAM. 1 to DREAM. 2. In that short span, number of bad things have been mounting up in the FEG front. With this 2 Organization war going on in Japan, It seems that by garnering less attention and just basically letting things go on around them World Victory Road (WVR) has almost won the battle without much action. It seems that bad planning, or the lack of, will be the early coffin in DREAM. I don’t think anyone wants to see this happen but the little things have caught up to them and the future is definitely uncertain for DREAM at the moment. Being Dropped from Primetime, lack of Fighters and bad management all together are definitely to blame for this whole thing becoming a tragedy.

Anyways, enough of the negativity, back to the reason of this little writing. As announced DREAM. 2 will be held on April 29th and the card looks like so:

OLYMPIA DREAM.2 Middleweight GP 2008 1st Round
Date: April 29th, 2008
Place: Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan

Middleweight GP 1st Round:
8. Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Andrews Nakahara
7. Denis Kang vs. Gegard Mousasi
6. Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Masakatsu Funaki
5. Ronaldo Jacare vs. Ian Murphy
4. Magomed Sultanakhmadov vs. Zelg Galesic
3. Yoon Dong Sik vs. Shungo Oyama
2. Kin Taiei vs. Minowaman

Lightweight GP 1st Round:
1. Shinya Aoki vs. J.Z. Calvan

(Many thanks to Nightmare of Battle for the Organized Full Card)