The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) today bolstered its middleweight division by signing high-profile 185-pound standout Denis Kang to a four-fight contract to compete inside the Octagon.

Here's a snip from the official announcement:

"Denis will now be able to showcase his skills to a whole new audience who hasn't had the chance to see this exciting fighter in action. Denis has always expressed a desire to fight in the UFC and we are pleased we were able to help him get this deal done. Denis will bring a lot of excitement to the 185-pound division! Congrats Denis!"

Kang — who has enjoyed success primarily in Japan and Korea fighting in the PRIDE and Spirit MC organizations — is on a two-fight win streak after losing back-to-back matches. He most recently defeated Marvin Eastman via first round technical knockout at Raw Combat: "Redemption" last month.

The Canadian with South Korean roots was a participant in the Dream Middleweight Grand Prix 2008, losing to eventual tournament winner Gegard Mousasi via submission (triangle choke). He was an early favorite to win it all before getting upset by the slick Armenian.

Kang was also the runner-up at the PRIDE Welterweight Grand Prix 2006, losing to Kazuo Misaki via split decision.

No fight date or possible opponent for Kang is known at this time. However, expect to see him make his Octagon debut sometime in early 2009.

If he can get off to a good start don't be too surprised to see him fighting reigning division champion Anderson Silva sometime very soon … Kang has great mixed martial arts skills and would be a nice test for "The Spider."

This is great news — the promotion had been trying to wrangle the services of Kang for more than a year. Job well done.