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Denis Kang

There's a particular agony in almost being the best.

Denis Kang was a man of many spaces. He was born into France's Saint Pierre and Miquelon, moved into Spain's Canary Islands as an infant, and finally relocated to Canada's Vancouver as a child. His martial background was equally eclectic: By the time his family settled he'd already trained in Taekwondo, Karate, Judo and Wrestling, and upon his arrival he almost immediately enrolled in Hapkido, and if you're noticing an unusual level of representation for Korean martial arts in his background, give yourself a gold star. Kang's father was a Korean expatriate, and his influence played a major role in Kang's development as a martial artist--and his growth as an MMA superstar. Eventually.

Because, boy, five years into his tenure as a fighter Denis Kang most certainly did not look like a superstar. While he's primarily associated with mid-2000s of mixed martial arts, Kang actually turned pro all the way back in 1998, early enough to have fought early mixed martial arts legends like Keiichiro Yamamiya, Minoru Suzuki, and the departed Joe Slick. Unfortunately: Denis Kang lost to most of them. Maybe it was inexperience, maybe it was style, but when Jason "Mayhem" Miller choked him out in February of 2003 it meant Denis Kang was 7-7 (1) and looked just about done with the sport before he'd gotten anywhere.

And then things changed. He finally found his identity and his confidence as a fighter. Denis Kang had outsized punching power for a 5'11" Middleweight and legitimately dangerous offensive grappling. His failures, generally-speaking, came from his defense. The solution was obvious: Don't be on defense. Blow your opponents out and you don't have to worry about dealing with return fire.

However: The quality of his opposition dropped like a rock. Denis Kang SHOULDN'T have been fighting people like Slick and Suzuki when he was barely a rookie, but after 2003 Kang flipped that balance and became the veteran destroying legions of outmatched rookies.

This was, in part, thanks to his father's aforementioned influence. Pride's success had grown the sport across the world, and 2003 saw the launch of Spirit Martial Challenge, South Korea's first major MMA organization. They wanted international attention, but they wanted to stick to predominantly Korean talent, and Kang's status as a half-Korean martial artist who'd already shown up in places like Pancrase and Russia's M-1 made him a valuable pickup.

But the Korean MMA scene was nascent and most of its fighters were inexperienced. Denis Kang's first appearance in the company was a one-night tournament that saw him score first-round knockouts over two fighters who'd never actually fought before; Kang, by contrast, was 20 fights into his career. The community didn't care, because, objectively, beating a bunch of people in minutes is very, very cool. Within a year Kang was a champion, had eight straight first-round finishes under his belt and hadn't lost in fourteen fights. He was a star.

And Pride was hungry for stars.

Denis Kang's Pride debut came at Bushido 6 on April 3, 2005, just two years since that loss to Mayhem Miller, and in that short amount of time Kang had gone from a 7-7 (1) fighter no one knew to a 20-7-1 (1) international sensation. Pride didn't want to upset Kang's diet: For his debut he drew the 3-3-1 professional wrestler Takahiro Oba, who, shockingly, got submitted in the first round. Kang proceeded to blaze a path of destruction through everyone Pride put in front of him, and in 2006 he was a lock for Pride's first-ever Welterweight Grand Prix.

His entry couldn't have gone much better, either. He was given Pride superstar Murilo "Ninja" Rua, an absolute warrior who'd gone the distance with fighters like Dan Henderson and lasted four minutes against Sergei Kharitonov. Denis Kang knocked him out in fifteen seconds. A few months later Kang dealt with the legendary Amar Suloev, who'd lasted almost a full round with Paulo Filho just one year earlier. Denis Kang submitted him twelve seconds faster than Filho did. The fanbase was white-hot for the Super Korean, and a matchup between Kang and Filho seemed to be a lock for the tournament final.

And then, as tends to happen, things fell apart.

During his career Denis Kang fell in love with a fighter named Shelby Walker. Walker was a mixed martial artist and a boxer and, at one point, was scheduled to meet fellow pioneer Erica Montoya in what would have been the first women's MMA bout in UFC history all the way back in 2005. But it never materialized, and, tragically, Shelby Walker died after overdosing on pain medication on September 24, 2006. She and Kang had been engaged and were planning to get married in 2007. Instead, Kang lost his fiancée--just a month before he'd have to fight two of the best fighters in the world on a single night.

Kang talked about how training helped him deal with the grief and described himself as a caged animal ready to vent his pain on his opponents. He beat Akihiro Gono in the first fight of the night, but he also tore his bicep in the process. Paulo Filho was also too injured to continue, so Pride put Japanese fighter Kazuo Misaki in the finals instead. It's a testament to just how good Denis Kang was that on that night, having fought a full fight just hours before, coping with the grief of losing his fiancée, fighting with one functioning arm, he took Misaki to a split decision.

But the decision went against Kang. He lost his biggest fight. And that, unfortunately, became his new standard. Kang was one of the sport's biggest stars, but he was also about to crash down to Earth.

Pride folded before Kang could fight for them again. He went to K-1 HERO'S: He was immediately knocked out by Yoshihiro Akiyama. He joined Pride revival DREAM in 2008: He was choked out by Gegard Mousasi in three minutes. But Denis Kang was still a valuable quantity, and the UFC wanted him. He made his UFC debut in 2009, and even then, even having lost all of his high-profile fights, the fanbase was certain he would make it to the UFC's top ten.

He went 1-2. Outside of a decision victory over Xavier Foupa-Pokam, Kang fought Alan Belcher and Michael Bisping and both fights were distressingly similar. He looked fantastic in the first round, wobbling Belcher and outright dropping Bisping, and he looked tired and lost in the second rounds, stymied by Belcher's guard and ultimately caught in a guillotine choke in one, brutalized by Bisping and punched to a TKO loss in the other.

He floated around the mixed martial arts world, including finally getting his grand prix match with Paulo Filho in 2010 when both men were far past their primes, but a three-fight losing streak heralded the end. Kang fought one last time for DREAM in 2012--the last event DREAM ever held, fittingly--and the man who was almost a Pride Grand Prix Champion got knocked out by Melvin Manhoef in just fifty seconds.

The mixed martial arts community has reduced the fall of Denis Kang to a simple tragedy. His fiancée died, he was never the same, the end. I think that's too unkind. It would be insane not to factor that tragic loss into his mindset, but it also disregards his talents and travails as a fighter. Kang was entering his thirties, carrying a decade of road wear on his body, and like so many fighters before and since struggled with a higher level of competition.

It's disrespectful to reduce his entire story to grief. He was a hell of a fighter, but even great fighters lose on their own terms. Coming as close to greatness as Kang did is an achievement that doesn't need to be wiped away just because he got punched out by Michael Bisping.

Moveset, stats, logic and four attires (Pride Bushido 13 vs Gono / UFC 97 vs Foupa-Pokam / Spirit MC 2008 vs Kim / Pancrase: Trans 7 vs Yamamiya). Watch out for the uppercut, it's a doozy.