Matt Wiman Challenges Dennis Siver At UFC 132, Is This His Big Break?
Matt Wiman has had a solid career in mixed martial arts. He has won 13 fights in his career, including victories over Mac Danzig, Cole Miller and Thiago Tavares, but he hasn’t had that one fight that elevates him into title contention, or even into the upper tier of lightweight fighters.
For me, UFC 132 is being set up to elevate Dennis Siver, Wiman’s opponent, into a lightweight title contender. He is coming off the impressive win over George Sotiropoulos at UFC 127 and has a three fight win streak.
Wiman, meanwhile, has his own three fight win streak. His victories haven’t been over guys as high profile as Siver, which is why Siver is on his way to being a championship contender and Wiman is not.
But if Wiman were to win this fight, what would happen to him? He would not get the next title shot, that’s for sure. He would be given a shot against someone in the upper tier of the division, though. Most likely it would come against someone like Anthony Pettis or Ben Henderson.
I don’t expect Wiman to win because Siver is a more complete fighter than he is. He has legitimate knockout power and very good takedown defense, as he showed against Sotiropoulos. Wiman’s only real skill is his wrestling.
Wiman is not going to be anything more than a placeholder in UFC. There’s nothing wrong with that. In fact, I am sure he has made a lot of money as a placeholder working for this organization. But to think that he will ever be anything more than that is just a pipedream.