Former Pride Grand Prix finalist Denis Kang is set to defend his SpiritMC Middleweight Championship this weekend against Jae Young Kim in South Korean.
After rising up the middleweight rankings over the last few years while being a stand out in Pride, Kang looked less than impressive in his last two fights, losing by submission and KO to Gegard Mousasi and Yoshihiro Akiyama respectively.
With this fight, Kang look to get back on track as he tells Sherdog.com,
“All the hard work is done; the only thing left to do is kick his ass,” said Kang. “I know my last two fights weren’t what anybody expected, but I think for awhile I was just kind of lagging in training and lost my concentration. I don’t know what to call it, you know? I wasn’t depressed or anything like that, it’s just the focus of my motivation was misplaced. I wasn’t training like I am now to try to improve myself and be the best — I was just going through the motions basically.”
Kang was a highly touted middleweight at one point and considered within the top six in the world. He holds a 29-10-1 record and after starting his career off shakey, went 23 straight fights without a loss, 21 of those fights wins including a trip to the Pride Middleweight Grand Prix finals in 2006.
