Comments on: Pre-UFC 75 conference call recap with White, Henderson, Rampage, Bisping, and Hamill

By: jt

jt — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 16:58:47 +0000

With Kang I think the issue for me is more about talent than recognition. Granted the UFC middleweight division is in an OK (not wonderful)place right now, but Kang has crazy talent. Why would you not want someone who is an exciting, talented, marketable fighter in your organization?

Weird.

By: Hywel Teague [FIGHTERS ONLY MAGAZINE]

Hywel Teague [FIGHTERS ONLY MAGAZINE] — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 12:08:12 +0000

Kang may not be a big name to Americans but he is a bona fide top tier guy

By: dice

dice — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 04:47:18 +0000

Oh I guess I misunderstood Dana when he said he wanted to get the best fighters in the world to come to the UFC. I guess he meant to say “we are going to get the biggest names in the world”. No one is saying they need to “break their backs” to sign him and who said anything about being well known in america (I am assuming you meant America and not North America, because he is well known in Canada).

Not sure if you have noticed but the UFC has little interest in appealing JUST to the masses in America . They are trying to take their business global, and yes in the global mma community denis kang is very well known (huge in korea). The guy is a top 5 middleweight who is an extremely explosive fighter; someone that any promoter would like to have on their card. I don’t think you want to get in the habit of rating fighters on how big their name is or saying that an organization shouldn’t push for him because their exploits aren’t legendary (in the US that is). I rate them on how their performance in the ring/cage. So I am going to have to disagree and say that he is definitely worth signing.

By: Mobb Deep

Mobb Deep — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 01:06:03 +0000

Please, Dennis Kang is not a big name in North America. Dana’s reasoning is quite simple. No one other than hardcore fans have even heard of him. Its not worth it for him to try to break his balls to try and sign him. In the case of Wanderlei, Nog, Shogun, Cro Cop and Fedor its diffrent. Even though they didn’t fight in the US(exept on a 2 occasions), thier exploits are legendary and tales of them managed to make thier way across the Pacific. Its not the same with Kang and its not worth it for the UFC to break thier backs in order to wrestle him away from K-1.

By: Zurich

Zurich — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 21:18:51 +0000

Uh, Canada is a huge market for the UFC and MMA in general. GSP’s success has proven to be a vehicle for growth for MMA in Canada (dear god, just step foot into a sports bar in Toronto when GSP is fighting… its insane). Dennis Kang is Canadian, and he’s a huge talent at 185. Based on the foregoing, I don’t understand Dana’s reasoning. Is it because of the rumours about Kang’s sexuality? His asian heritage? It’s certainly not about his skill or fighting style…

By: dice

dice — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 20:11:15 +0000

I agree with Barnett, dana has a tendency to try and look like he could care less but if its a situation that could make him a lot of money; he will change his mind in a heartbeat. Josh is a solid top 5 heavyweight who can sell himself as well as anyone. The UFC should be making a very large push for him.

This leads into my next topic: the firing of babalu. My guess is that Dana is not firing him for what he did (although it makes it more convenient); he is letting him go because he and joe silva probably don’t see the point of keeping him on. Meaning where does he fit into in the light heavyweight scene (they would have kept him on if they figured he could provide some big money fights). He is too good to keep on as a gatekeeper and is only an underdog to very few fighters. I personally think they should have keep him on to use his last fight as a chance for shogun to avenge a loss. But like I said before, there is no guarantee that babalu would lose that fight. Bottom line: if it would have made financial sense to keep him on, they would have. Dana and the Fertittas are not moral agents, their allegiance is to the almighty dollar.

From what I understand it is a bit of longshot that the UFC will sign fedor. Because the way I see it the UFC is not going to meet all of his demands. Yes they may let some more red devil fighters in, thats not that big of an issue but I highly doubt that they would let him fight for another promotion, even if its in russia and I don’t think they are crazy about letting him continue his sambo career. The only way I could see them signing him is if they promise to hold an event or two in his homeland and if they allow him to compete in sambo, as long if it isn’t 2-3 months before an upcoming UFC bout.

And yes dana, denis kang is top tier talent and a big name (arguably the biggest name pride had in that division once hendo moved to 205). And if this is something you unable to see then I worry about your scouting abilities.