Denis Kang Signs with K-1 HERO's

Let the "Dana White really dropped the ball!" bullshit begin.

Coveted free-agent middleweight Denis Kang has confirmed to FiveOuncesofPain.com his signing with K-1 HERO's but did not specify when or against whom his first fight will be.

While plenty of UFC fans will be upset by this bit of news, it should certainly not come as a shock. The Kang/K-1 deal has been a hotly-rumored topic for some time now, and UFC president Dana White has said that signing Kang was not a top priority for the UFC. According to White, the popular Kang is not an MMA "superstar," nor was he one of Pride's top fighters.

CBS Sports Interview with Dana White

Sam Caplan recently interviewed Dana White as part of a CBS Sports interview. Here are my favorite parts:

Babalu Sobral being released from the UFC: "Babalu is showing a bad track record lately. I don't like the direction he's been going in, and he needs to straighten his life out if he wants to continue to be a professional athlete."

I agree. Babalu was arrested in Miami a few weeks back, and his UFC 74 post-fight commentary and overall attitude was Bush League, especially for a fighter of Babalu's status.

A UFC return for Babalu?: "Absolutely. I like Babalu. He's a good guy and a good fighter."

That's what I like to hear.

Georges St-Pierre’s next fight: "He'll fight the winner of Hughes/Serra. And yeah, we're trying to do a fight up in Canada, so that one would make a lot of sense."

This will make for a great headliner, but I feel bad for guys like Karo Parisyan, Jon Fitch, and Diego Sanchez who are still waiting in line for their shot. Oh well...

A title shot for Roger Huerta?: "I think he's probably a good year away."

Thank you. I've been saying for a while now that Huerta is not yet championship material. Plus, the more he fights (and wins), the brighter his star will shine. That was fruity...

Fedor Emelianenko’s management team: "I don't like to talk about contract negotiations with the public but it didn't go well. These guys are crazy."

Dana, watch your mouth.

Liddell vs. Wanderlei on December 29?: "It's possible. Liddell would have to win. Liddell would have to come out injury free. There's a lot of ifs."

Keith Jardine is quite possible my single least favorite UFC fighter.

Josh Barnett: "He's just a punk. You know what? The thing is I don't want to even talk about Josh Barnett. Nobody even cares about Josh Barnett. I got Mirko Cro Cop, the guy that just beat the s**t out of him (Barnett). I'm not interested in Josh Barnett at all as far as who he is as a person or as a fighter or how he represents the sport. I don't like anything about him."

And Cro Cop just got his head kicked in by the guy Couture just embarrassed. Barnett is worth signing.

Denis Kang: "Denis Kang was supposed to be on Season 1 of The Ultimate Fighter but he ended up getting a good deal over in Korea. This is a guy we were looking at to be on season one of The Ultimate Fighter, I wouldn't call him one of the major superstars in MMA or one of the major superstars from Pride."

Kang on TUF? I never knew that had been in the works. I'm a Kang fan, but I agree with Dana; Kang is not a major superstar. He's close, but there are certainly bigger names out there.

Gilbert Melendez: "I'm very interested in him. He's under contract with someone else right now. But yeah, I'm very interested in him."

I'm glad Capalan asked about the undefeated Melendez, who's one of the most under appreciated fighters out there.

For the rest of the interview, click here.

Straight Talk

"The sense of loyalty came for Pride and Pride itself. When the UFC bought Pride, Pride stopped being Pride. You know what I mean? I’ll tell you right now I loved Pride. Pride in my opinion was the best show in the world with the production. You ask anyone that’s fought for Pride and everyone remembers fondly about waiting backstage and hearing the Pride music for the introduction of a fighter, the lighting and the fireworks -- there’s no experience like it. I’ve been backstage at UFC, K-1, Bodog, you name it and there’s nothing else like Pride in the world. It’s too bad because Pride was the sh**, quite simply."

- Denis Kang

Morning Droppings

- Congratulations to Frank Shamrock, Ninja Rua, Cung Le, Paul Buentello, and the rest of last night's Strikeforce/EliteXC winners. For complete details, click here.

- Lightweight Brandon Melendez did not make weight for last night's TUF 5 Finale weigh-ins, and NSAC doctors would not permit Melendez to try and lose the extra pound. Instead, they decided to let the match go on with 5% of Melendez's purse going to the NSAC and another 5% to opponent Joe Lauzon.

- Middleweight free agent Denis Kang says that he is in negotiations with the UFC, BodogFIGHT and EliteXC, just to name a few, and expects to make a decision this week. "It just depends on who is going to make the right offer,” Kand told FightNetwork.

- Renato "Babalu" Sobral defeated former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir in a special grappling rules only Tuff-N-Uff exhibition match.

Morning Droppings

- UFC Hall of Famer and MMA legend Royce Gracie has been suspended for one year and fined $2,500 by the California State Athletic Commission after testing positive for nandrolone metabolite, an anabolic steriod, after his June 2 K-1/EliteXC fight against Kazushi Sakuraba.

- BJ Penn stinks at ping-pong.

- Johnny Morton, a former NFL star and burgeoning mixed martial artist, declined to take a post-fight drug test after his June 2 K-1/EliteXC beating at the hands of Bernard Ackah and was immediately placed on indefinite suspension by the CSAC -- which has withheld his $100,000 purse! Morton faces the revocation of his license and a maximum $2,500 fine.

- Michael "The Count" Bisping will take on Matt "The Hammer" Hamill at UFC 75 on September 8 in London. I like Bisping in this fight.

- Joe "Daddy" Stevenson is rumored to be fighting Kurt Pellegrino in either August or September.

- Rumor has it that American Top Team product Denis Kang (pictured), one of my favorites, is close to signing with bodogFIGHT.

- Don't look now, but Rio-based Black House (Casa Preta) is quickly becoming one of the scariest fight teams around: Big Nog, Vitor Belfort, Anderson Silva, Paulo Filho, Lyoto Machida, Assuerio Silva, Antonio "Nino" Schembri, Carlos Barreto, and Rafael Feijao. Hot damn!