BIOGRAPHY
Denis Puric was born in Ljubljana, Slovenija where he was raised by his mother and father. In 1992, he and his family were living in Bosnia when the country was devastated by the war. To survive this predicament, Denis and his family escaped to Slovenija in 1995 where Denis first got involved in Taekwondo. Denis quickly realized his calling for martial arts by excelling in every event and tournament he competed in. In 1997, Denis moved to Canada as a refugee to find a better life and continued his passion for Taekwondo. With the support of his family, he became a 10 times Canadian champion, in addition to winning the Taekwondo World Championship in 2005 held in “sunshine coast” Caloundra, Australia. It was also during this time Denis started becoming interested in other forms of martial arts with the growing rise and popularity of MMA. Armed with perseverance and an insatiable desire to rise to the top, Denis decided it was time to advance his career by expanding into other forms of martial arts and create a style of his own by integrating other types of training with his strong foundation in Taekwondo.
Denis’ Muay Thai and MMA career began in 2002 when he started training under his mentor Kru Alin where he competed in many amateur fights. He trained for his first professional MMA fight in 2007 where he competed on Six Nations Native Reserve taking down Paul Jackman the Koshiki Karate World Champion by submission choke. In 2010 Denis went on to defeat Mark Fraser in Montreal, Canada at Ringside MMA where he shook the stadium with a one minute 45 second TKO in the very first round. Then in 2011 Denis fought Chuck Mady in Bellator where he finished him in the second round with a broken jaw TKO. It was without a doubt Denis’ talent had caught the attention of many in the MMA scene, winning against UFC veterans like Terrion Ware and Alateng Heili. However, Denis had bigger aspirations and went on to pursue his dreams internationally by moving to Asia where he continued to fight among some of the best in the world.
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From 2012 Denis travelled to Bangkok, Thailand to further develop and sharpen his Muay Thai skills under the legendary Buakaw Banchamek where he trained in his camp until 2016. As Denis fought close to 70 fights for Buakaw, he was able to showcase his talent that did not go unrecognized. Under Buakaw’s banner, he fought in K1 against Rungravee Sasiprapa losing to a split decision. However, in 2015 he flew to Hong Kong to fight against Pornsanea Sitmonchai in Top King World Series where he knocked out his opponent in 9 seconds of the very first round with a deadly left hook. Soon after he was offered a contract with the Chinese kickboxing promotion, Kunlun Fight, where he decided to pursue his career in China in 2016. In an unforgettable first match he fought against Kang En, who was the first Chinese national to sign with K1, where he won by split decision. Denis was later hired to work as a coach for the Kunlun fight team in 2016 to train and prepare their fighters for competitions, as well as coaching for the Chinese National Army team.
His passion, expertise, and natural teaching ability for the sport has led to a career fighting all over the world. Though he is currently training for his next fight and plans to return to China when the borders re-open, he has made time to focus on private one on one and group training sessions to share his expertise and knowledge for those at all levels during his time in Canada.
As he is currently ranked as the 5th Bosnian fighter in the world pound for pound and ranked 11th in the MMA Bantham weight division, it is undeniable that his passion and countless years of experience makes him one of the best in the sport, bar none.
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