Denis Kang Inks 4 Fight Deal with the UFC

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.

What this really leaves me wondering is whether this is going to happen more often, and if the UFC is once again showing interest in signing fighters from the Japanese market. If they are, then Jorge Santiago, Gerard Mousasi (the next competitor I think should fight Anderson Silva) and Yoshihiro Akiyama, with any luck, will be coming soon. The impacts on this (especially on the Japanese market) seem pretty obvious and painful, but the sport may be in for some solid growth if that does happen.