Denis Kang – Bisping’s Truth Machine

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By Thomas Gerbasi

Denis Kang has no clue which Michael Bisping is going to show up at the MEN Arena in Manchester, England on Saturday night. Will it be the aggressive young man who shot out to a 15-0 record in MMA, or one who may be questioning himself a little bit after suffering the first knockout loss of his career in July to Dan Henderson?

Kang, a veteran of 46 pro fights, will find out in a few short days, but don’t count on him getting rattled in the meantime at the prospect of facing someone completely different than the one he’s expecting. He’s actually been in Bisping’s shoes before, and he knows exactly what ‘The Count’ is going through – that’s all the edge he needs.

“Some people really never get over certain types of losses, but some people come out better fighters,” said Kang, who was knocked out by current UFC middleweight Yoshihiro Akiyama in a K1-Hero’s bout in 2007. “I hope he comes out the better fighter and gives me an awesome fight because it’s gonna make my victory even better.”

Kang has won three of his subsequent five fights since the defeat against Akiyama, so it’s safe to say there were no ill effects from the loss, but that doesn’t mean the same will hold true for Bisping, so Kang will be aiming for his chin early on to see where the hometown hero’s head is at.

“For sure I think he probably is going to be doubting his chin a little bit after a loss like that,” said Kang. “You never know, some people say that you lose your chin, and it is a little quick after his last fight, so we’ll see. I’ll test it and see how he reacts to it.”

And if Bisping is the slightest bit gun-shy, the veteran Kang will sense it and probably make it a quick night. If Bisping is back to his old self – and as far as the Brit is concerned, he never left – we may be seeing a Fight of The Night type war between the two 185-pounders. That’s a prospect Kang is actually looking forward to.

“It’s more work, but it’s much more satisfying,” he said. “I’ve had a few quick wins, and you train so hard and then it’s great, but almost bittersweet to win in 30 seconds or whatever. You train so hard that you want to test out certain moves or your cardio.”

Kang also wants to put on the type of performance that fight fans have been waiting to see from him ever since he signed with the UFC in late-2008. It looked like he was on the way to one in his Octagon debut against Alan Belcher in January, as he looked as sharp as ever for most of the bout, but then he got caught by Belcher in the second round and submitted via guillotine choke.

“It’s tough, but I learned from it,” said Kang. “I’m a better fighter now that I fought and lost that fight than if I had not fought that fight. You win some, you lose some, and I learned a lot in that fight. There are things that I should have done, things I shouldn’t have done.”

He put those lessons into action in his next UFC fight against Xavier Foupa-Pokam in April as he put together a strategically sound three round attack that earned him a unanimous decision win in front of his home country fans in Canada.

“I learned not to go out there and expect a crazy knockout right away, and to get out there and fight a strategic, smart fight,” he said. “I will admit that it wasn’t probably the most fun fight for the fans to watch, but I really stuck to the gameplan in that fight and it came out very well for me.”

So now that he’s got his initial UFC win out of the way, Kang can now concentrate on letting his hands go and fighting his fight when the bell rings without the pressure of having to secure an Octagon victory for the first time. And considering that he’s back training in Florida with American Top Team for his first camp with them in two years (he also spent half his camp in Montreal with Firas Zahabi and Jon Chaimberg), he may be the best Denis Kang we’ve seen in a while – which is perfect timing considering he’s going to be fighting not only in front of a packed house in Manchester, but in front of millions watching on Spike TV, some who may be seeing him for the first time.

“I hope they see that I’m a no joke kind of fighter,” said Kang. “I come out there to fight aggressively and explosively and I’m one of the most athletic guys in this division.”

As for the prospect of fighting in front of fans who may see him as the bad guy because he’s taking on the local favorite, being the ‘black hat’ is old hat for Kang, a native of St. Pierre & Miquelon, France.

“I have a wealth of international experience, so I’m pretty sure that in almost all of my fights, at least 80 percent of them, I was the outsider,” he said. “I do kinda enjoy wearing the black hat and I’m used to it – to me it’s the norm. My last fight was at home and that was an unbelievable experience – not having to travel, eating in my own kitchen two days before the fight, it was surreal. But now it’s back to business for me.”

First order of that business? Beating Michael Bisping. Second? Beating Bisping impressively enough that he makes a statement that will propel him up the middleweight rankings and towards his ultimate goal – the UFC middleweight championship.

“I think it (a win over Bisping) definitely would put me in the top ten rankings and get me closer to a UFC title shot,” said the 32-year old Kang. “I understand that, to be fair, there are other fighters who are ahead of me right now in line for a title shot, so I’m taking it one step at a time. This fight is a huge stepping stone for me and I think it’s gonna work out in my favor.”