Tag: Dennis Siver

Dennis Siver: Beating Conor McGregor Will Lead to Pinnacle of My Career

You may not know it from the ads and the pre-fight chatter, fight fans, but there’s another man involved in the UFC Fight Night 59 main event in Boston on January 18 besides the 16-2 Conor McGregor. 
While the Irishman has dominated the media cove…

You may not know it from the ads and the pre-fight chatter, fight fans, but there’s another man involved in the UFC Fight Night 59 main event in Boston on January 18 besides the 16-2 Conor McGregor. 

While the Irishman has dominated the media coverage and soundbites in the lead-up to the event, Dennis Siver (22-9, 1 no-contest), the No. 10-ranked featherweight in the UFC, will be at the TD Garden Arena, too, and he’s not looking to lay the railing for McGregor‘s hype train. 

He’s looking to derail it.

He expects to, even. 

Speaking with Bleacher Report via a translator, Siver talked about his main event matchup against McGregor, fighting in Boston and what a win will mean for his career moving forward. 

 

Bleacher Report: Hi, Dennis how is everything? How are you feeling? 

Dennis Siver: I’m good, good. Everything is good. 

 

B/R: Happy birthday, by the way! I know I’m a day late on this, but I hope you had a good one. Did you get to celebrate or were you too busy preparing for the big fight? 

Siver: I’ve been here for two days, so I haven’t really had time to celebrate my birthday. The party’s going to have to wait until Sunday.

 

B/R: You’ve fought all over the world with the UFC. Now, you’re coming to Boston, and you’re in the main event, which is new for you in the UFC. Is it different for you? How does this moment and this place and this venue feel for you?

Siver: The fight is a fight like any other. I don’t feel any extra pressure; I’m just going to get in there and get the job done.  

 

B/R: Throughout your career, you’ve kind of become known for that spinning back kick. You’ve had a few nice, highlight-reel finishes with it in the UFC. That said, if you beat Conor McGregor Sunday, that kind of feels like it’d be a high point in your career. Do you agree with that? Do you think beating McGregor would represent the high point in your UFC career so far?

Siver: It’s not going to be the pinnacle of my career, because it’s only going to be one stop. Beating Conor McGregor is going to lead to the pinnacle of my career.

 

B/R: And with all the talk, all the people focused on McGregor, it kind of seems like people forgot it takes two for a great fight, and you’ve been involved in some great fights, some Fights of the Night. It seems like everybody expects that you’re just going to go in the cage and lay down and let McGregor steamroll you, which we both know isn’t true. How does that make you feel?

Siver: You really can’t, after all of my career, think I’m going to get steamrolled against Conor. If you look at the other fights I’ve had, I’ve had several Fight of the Night bonuses, I’ve had performance bonuses, Knockout of the Night, Submission of the Night, even. It’s really shortsighted to think that a really good fighter like Conor is going to just walk in there and walk all over me. I’ve been in there with the best, and even in the cases where I’ve lost, it wasn’t like I just got blitzed with one hit and it was over.

 

B/R: Sure, and Conor‘s even gone as far as to say he’s going to “retire you,” Dennis. Right there on TV, he’s going to make you quit forever. Do his words even mean anything to you at this point with as much as he’s said?

Siver: It doesn’t matter how the fight goes, it’s not going to be a “retirement” for me. My first fight in the UFC was before Conor even started training mixed martial arts, so, in a nutshell, I haven’t really taken Conor in full for many, many months. He’s talked so much s–t that at the end of the day I just can’t listen to it anymore.

 

B/R: Was there ever a point where the talk bothered you? It sounds like you’re to a point now where you’re over it and you don’t pay too much attention to it, but did it bother you at first? Did it ever become personal for you?

Siver: I’m about keeping fights professional, about being in there…and not necessarily talking s–t about my opponent. But some of the things Conor said did affect me in a very personal way. I didn’t really want to let them affect me as far as my mental state was concerned, but when I heard these comments, I kind of figured, “What kind of person does Conor have to be to say something like that?”

 

B/R: And we’ve seen recently with Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier, for instance, when it got personal, it kind of brought out the best in each fighter. Has it done the same for you? Have you revved up your intensity and focused on this fight more than usual?

Siver: I’ve always been able to separate the talk of the fight from the actual fight itself. Once I step in the Octagon, I will be all business. I’m only going to worry about the fight, not necessarily what Conor said five minutes ago, five days ago or five months ago.

 

B/R: Is there any benefit to how you’ve kind of flown under the radar? Obviously, most of the media has been talking with Conor and even the UFC special, the UFC Embedded video, you were in it for about a minute versus Conor‘s 10 minutes. But it looks like you were just enjoying your steak and relaxing. Is there a benefit to that? Do you prefer the peace and relaxation you’ve had?

Siver: I’m kind of happy that Conor‘s taken care of the promotion. He can promote as much as he wants because it affords me time to train, to relax, to do whatever I want to do. So, Conor, if you like that, I’m all for it.

 

B/R: Do you plan to call out Aldo if you win? Aldo is already being talked about for McGregor if he beats you. Would you expect the same? Do you expect a title shot if you win?

Siver: I’d respectfully like to concentrate on the Conor McGregor fight. When that fight’s over, I’ll make plans for my future, but right now, I’d like to focus on Conor and Conor alone.

 

B/R: Sure. Coming back to Conor, when people look at his skills, they think that the UFC is protecting him from wrestlers, from people who can take him down and wear him down on the ground. And it’s kind of flown under the radar, but you’ve landed takedowns in each of your last four fights, and you have a heavy top style. Is that something you’re going to focus on Sunday?

Siver: I don’t really concern myself with who’s being protected from whom, but what I can say is that in my opinion, I’m better at everything than Conor is. I’m better at wrestling, I’ve got better striking, I’ve got a lot more in terms of where I’ve been and what I’ve experienced. It’s a fight that’s completely up in the air.

 

B/R: If we cut away all the hype and all the trash talk for a second—because in the end, it’s a fight, it’s real, you guys are going to battle it out in the cage. What kind of respect do you actually have for Conor‘s skills? I’m sure there is some level of real respect. What do you think of Conor‘s fighting skills?

Siver: What makes Conor interesting is he’s got a very unorthodox fighting style, and his stance is different than anybody else’s. But it just makes him interesting. It doesn’t make him a superior fighter.

 

B/R: Dennis, once the fight is over and Bruce Buffer announces the winner, how do you see this one ending, specifically? What do you envision for Sunday night?

Siver: Bruce Buffer is going to say my name, the referee is going to raise my hand, and I’m going to be the big winner Sunday.

 

B/R: Thank you for your time, Dennis. Good luck Sunday.

 

*Note: Some third-person references from Siver‘s translator have been converted to first-person point-of-view to reflect Siver speaking. 

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Dennis Siver Is UFC Fight Night 59’s Forgotten Man

How did Dennis Siver get in there?
I think I speak for everyone when I admit this was my initial response to seeing the latest UFC Magazine cover. The two-panel foldout features the fight company’s newest harangue—”The Time is Now”—la…

How did Dennis Siver get in there?

I think I speak for everyone when I admit this was my initial response to seeing the latest UFC Magazine cover. The two-panel foldout features the fight company’s newest harangue—”The Time is Now”—laid out over a collage of the biggest stars from its early 2015 slate.

There’s Jon Jones and Ronda Rousey. There’s Chris Weidman and Anthony Johnson. There’s Conor McGregor checking his fancy watch to make sure the time really is now. Oh yeah, and there’s Siver, too, looking like he snuck into the photo shoot and nobody had the heart to ask him to leave.

I kid! I kid, but it was legitimately jarring to see Siver photoshopped in there alongside all those main eventers, since we’ve been given no reason to believe he belongs.

The truth is, we all might’ve been more excited to see Siver score that magazine cover spot had we known it would be one of the last times we’d see him before his main event bout against McGregor at Sunday’s UFC Fight Night 59.

As of this writing, the lead-up to this fight has been very—shall we say—McGregorian. The teaser trailers have been about McGregor, the 30-minute documentary specials on Fox Sports 1 have been about McGregor and the SportsCenter interview slots have been reserved for McGregor, too.

If at any point you blinked—or didn’t pick up the UFC magazine at your local newsstand—you might’ve missed Siver’s involvement entirely.

To hear UFC brass tell it, this one-sided focus was not an accident.

UFC CEO Lorenzo Fertitta told MMAJunkie’s John Morgan this week:

It was a whole plan of timing. … Also we just wanted to get you guys (in the media) riled up. Because we’ve done it so very few times, it stands out. We did it with Tito Ortiz in the early days. But because we don’t do it that often, I think it’s worked well. It’s got people talking.

People, that is, aside from Siver. So far we haven’t heard much from him at all.

In fairness, the UFC says it plans to bust out some Siver-centric promotion this week, and on Wednesday we got a few minutes from him in the latest episode of the company’s Embedded web series. Even still, it might be too late to shake the notion that the German fighter exists here only as the pole McGregor will use to vault himself to the top of the featherweight rankings.

Especially when McGregor’s head coach pretty much said as much out loud to Ariel Helwani on this week’s The MMA Hour.

“Well, there’s no other way to say it: Dennis is there to make Conor look good,” said John Kavanagh, via MMA Fighting.com’s Marc Raimondi. “He’s gonna get cleanly knocked out, which will set up a nice highlight reel and set up a nice main event title fight in Ireland.”

In this instance, I suppose you can’t blame the UFC public relations machine if it leaned a bit toward McGregor. The 26-year-old Irishman has been a revelation in and out of the cage while compiling a 4-0 promotional record. Odds Shark sees him as an enormous betting favorite again here, and he’s already been promised a shot at Jose Aldo’s 145-pound title if he can just get this one to play out according to chalk.

Maybe that’s part of the problem, though, too. As Fertitta nearly points out above, this isn’t the sort of matchmaking we’ve historically seen from the world’s largest MMA organization.

The UFC made its bones by putting the best in the cage across from the best and then living with the consequences. Its treatment of McGregor feels like something else entirely.

Coupled with the recent signing of CM Punk (who will certainly need some preferential treatment in even finding an opponent) and the booking of Anderson Silva vs. Nick Diaz (a fight Silva will certainly win unless he’s totally lost his fastball) it’s enough to make you wonder if we’re dealing with a shifting promotional philosophy in 2015.

Perhaps after a difficult 2014, the UFC feels it needs to pull out all the financial stops this year, and that includes leaving no salable fight unbooked, no promotable personality untapped.

Indeed, the UFC’s relationship with McGregor has long been atypical. UFC executives certainly haven’t been shy about expressing their excitement over the guy. It’s been a fun ride, but the feelings that he’s being rushed into a title shot and set up with fights we all know he should win have also been a bit disconcerting.

Take UFC president Dana White’s latest bit of PR magic, where he takes the McGregor-focused marketing campaign for this fight—which we must assume he and Fertitta played a part in creating—and uses it to spin a potential tale of redemption, not for the Irish golden child, but for the forgotten Siver.

White told Morgan:

We just got a quote from Dennis Siver, and Dennis said, ‘I’m coming to Boston, and I’m going to punish Conor McGregor.’ When you’re a guy like this that’s been s–t on—and I’m sure not only does he think he’s been s–t on by Conor McGregor, I’m sure he feels like he’s also been s–t on by the UFC—now he’s coming in here looking to knock this kid’s head off.

It’s genius, really, even if White’s exact wording makes me think he hasn’t personally talked with Siver in a while, either. 

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Fight Night 59: The Grand Vision of Conor McGregor Continues to Take Shape

There are few fighters on the current MMA landscape who are more polarizing than Conor McGregor.
The scrappy Irishman has shot to the forefront of the UFC’s global push and has done so on the strength of a personality fueled by unshakable confidence an…

There are few fighters on the current MMA landscape who are more polarizing than Conor McGregor.

The scrappy Irishman has shot to the forefront of the UFC’s global push and has done so on the strength of a personality fueled by unshakable confidence and what has thus far proven to be an unstoppable offensive attack once the cage door closes. Furthermore, beyond the work the Dublin native has done inside the Octagon, he’s given the biggest promotion in MMA a ready-made star to push, one who will do every bit of legwork he’s allowed.

In all fairness to McGregor, the SBG Ireland representative has no qualms with taking his skills and his ability to generate a seemingly endless stream of headlines on his own path as well.

Those elements have combined to make the surging featherweight talent one of the hottest commodities under the UFC banner, and his rise has left both fans and fighters alike in a place where they are forced to choose their stance on how they view the former two-divisional Cage Warriors champion. Yet, love him or hate him, McGregor‘s trajectory is not only something that has unfolded in public view but has been an ascension the fighter himself prophetically called upon reaching the sport’s biggest stage in 2013.

He said he would headline the UFC’s return to Ireland and the show would sell out in record time. He said he would become one of the major draws and earn a title shot against reigning featherweight king Jose Aldo in 2015. While that particular achievement is still beyond McGregor‘s grasp, a win over Dennis Siver at Fight Night 59 this Sunday in Boston will bring that particular projection to reality.

Those circumstances have been known to crumble elite-level fighters in the past, but this is the exact situation McGregor wants to be in. This is the grand vision he’s laid out for himself, and the only thing left to do is take the steps he’s already laid out in his mind. The brash-talking contender has publicly stated he will finish Siver in two minutes or less, adding one more bold prediction to an already impressive list.

“I think I can see the future,” McGregor told Bleacher Report. “When people ask me I tell them. I think I can predict the future.

“Wherever the contest goes I will excel. I gave him two minutes, and I feel that is a very fair prediction to give him. Judging by his movements and his restricted abilities, I feel I am going to crack him with something he will not be able to come through. And that is that. I’m confident wherever the contest goes. I’m prepared for wherever the contest goes, or however long the contest goes. But I feel it will not take me longer than two minutes. 

“Yes sir,” he answered when asked about the promised title opportunity with a victory Sunday night. “We are going to break more records, break more chins and carry on.”

While the UFC machine has been in full swing in the lead up to McGregor‘s next showing, one thing that has been noticeably absent has been the rising star’s signature badgering of his scheduled competitor. In the run-up to his previous four showings, McGregor has not only taunted his opponent on social media and interviews but typically had enough vitriol to dish out to his fellow contenders in the upper tier of the featherweight fold.

Aside from a handful of verbal barbs aimed in Siver‘s direction shortly after the fight was announced, McGregor has been relatively quiet by all measurable standards and certainly for what MMA fans have come to expect from him. Yet where Siver‘s refusal to engage is largely figured to be the reason for his tameness, McGregor admits he’s simply been too busy to travel those avenues before his next bout.

With increased visibility and popularity comes opportunity, and McGregor has been too busy forging new endeavors to worry about bantering with his opponent in the pre-fight realm. 

“I suppose it’s more business,” McGregor said. “I have more business to take care of now. I have many titles in my life. I am executive producing my own show. I managed my own financial situation. I manage everything and I multitask. There is more business so there is less time for anything else.”

While there is no doubting that McGregor is the most prominent soundbite machine in the fight game these days, it may be surprising that his work in the promotional realm isn’t something he’s prone to giving much afterthought to. Where other fighters with that particular skill have been known to pump out or recycle punchlines and quotes that hit the mark with the fighting fanbase, McGregor simply moves on and keeps things rolling.

Doing so may seem to be an element of focus, but the truth of the matter is that McGregor isn’t fond of hearing his own voice in interviews and appearances. He’d rather watch the highlight-reel knockouts and finishes he’s amassed inside the Octagon rather than listen to a verbal gem he’s dropped along the way.

“I actually don’t like listening to myself speak,” McGregor explained. “I would rather watch myself move than speak because I don’t like the way I sound or something. I sound different when I talk to different people. Like if I were to talk to a person from Dublin, I would talk to them completely different than I am talking to you right now. I don’t know why that is, but it’s true. When I hear myself talk in a different way, it freaks me out a little bit, so I just don’t really look back on it too much.”

With the attention surrounding him at an all-time high and heavy expectation hovering above his shoulders, McGregor will return to Boston in a high-risk affair with the Russian-German striker. There is literally everything to gain or lose in his upcoming main event tilt at Fight Night 59, and McGregor has complete focus as the bout draws near.

Where some athletes are insistent on keeping their focus locked on the challenge directly in their path, McGregor has dared to chase the grander vision in his mind. The bout with Siver and his return to Boston is just the next step in a much bigger plan, one that hinges on McGregor rising to the occasion once again.

With that in mind, that’s what he plans to do and promises to be at his best when the cage door closes Sunday night.

“I feel great and feel I have evolved from my previous contest, which is what it’s all about,” McGregor said. “Evolution and growth are what it’s all about. I’m in phenomenal condition right now, and I’m ready to put on a show for the people of Boston.”

 

Duane Finley is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. All quotes are obtained firsthand unless noted otherwise.

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UFC: Does Conor McGregor Deserve a Title Shot with Win?

UFC President Dana White made it pretty clear on what his intentions are for Conor McGregor should the Irishman win his next bout inside of the Octagon.

Venture off into the Twittersphere or any dungeon stockpiled with viral comments and you’ll find t…

UFC President Dana White made it pretty clear on what his intentions are for Conor McGregor should the Irishman win his next bout inside of the Octagon.

Venture off into the Twittersphere or any dungeon stockpiled with viral comments and you’ll find two parties: One in favor of McGregor and his meteoric rise to the top of the 145-pound division and one in opposition of any and everything the man does. 

Eyes—no matter whether they reside in a person hoping to see him fail or succeed—will be glued on that television set when McGregor steps into the Octagon this Sunday against Dennis Siver in Boston.

He’s an intriguing fighter; few can doubt that. But what many can doubt is whether or not a victory over the division’s 10th-ranked fighter merits a shot at the best 145 pounder the planet has ever seen. 

So, does McGregor deserve a shot at the title with a win over Siver? In short: Yes. Absolutely, positively yes. 

Many of the adversarial arguments rest upon the idea that the champion has another viable challenger in his wake—former 155-pound titleholder and former 145-pound title contender Frankie Edgar. It’s a fair argument, really. Ranked three spots higher in the UFC’s hierarchy, Edgar capped off victories over now No. 9-ranked Charles Oliveira and a first-time featherweight B.J. Penn before dominating the now-fourth-ranked Cub Swanson for nearly five full rounds.

But Edgar already had his shot at the champion; and it came off of back-to-back losses to Benson Henderson. Keep in mind that Edgar’s title shot came after Ricardo Lamas had extended his winning streak to four.

So, yeah. There’s that. 

Plenty of others standing in opposition of the Irishman’s title hopes point toward the notion that the UFC’s head honchos have been hand picking McGregor‘s opponents, claiming they wouldn’t dare contractually obligate him to face a wrestler for fear of losing out on the ridiculous profits they’d likely earn with about 82,000 of his countrymen cheering him on.

But coloring McGregor‘s resume hand-picked for his success is a bit unfair, especially when you take the time to analyze it a bit. His first two fights in the UFC, against Marcus Brimage and Max Holloway, can hardly be contested in this sense. McGregror was a UFC newcomer looking to earn some much needed victories in the eyes of the mainstream MMA fans.

Where the argument can truly begin is in McGregor‘s third fight, which was originally scheduled against Cole Miller, who no, isn’t considered a wrestler. What Miller, a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu with 15 submission wins, could’ve tested is McGregor‘s grappling skills.

An injury to Miller would force the UFC to find a replacement in Diego Brandao, who like McGregor at the time, was unranked. Long known for his strike-now worry-about-cardio-later approach to fighting, Brandao couldn’t have been a better opponent for the always calm McGregor.

Then came the naturally intriguing storyline between McGregor and Dustin Poirier. Again, it wouldn’t be an opportunity to showcase the Irishman’s wrestling defense (or offense, for that matter). So, no, McGregor hasn’t faced a top wrestler just yet. And, no, he still won’t have faced an elite wrestler even after fighting Siver this Sunday. 

But with McGregor healthy and ready to fight in early 2015, the UFC could ill afford to have one of their biggest draws sitting on the sideline while a proven wrestler was ready to go. The promotion needed a viable top-10 opponent for its prized fighter; Siver was their guy. 

Realistically, if the UFC had any intention on appeasing the critics, Nik Lentz would have been their guy.

But he wasn’t and you’d be hard pressed to blame them. Lentz isn’t widely considered a head-turner. His name doesn’t move the needle. His style does less to convince average fans to tune into the main event of UFC Fight Night 59 on Fox Sports 1. Compromising the excitement of the main event to satisfy the needs of a unconvinced minority—especially when it could be competing with the NFL’s AFC Championship Game—would be unwise. It isn’t a complete compromise, either, with Siver and Lentz only separated by two spots on the rankings.

Even without facing a true wrestler, let us be reminded that Chad Mendes stringed together five-straight victories against much lesser opponents before earning his second title shot against Aldo. The kicker that nobody seems to talk about? He didn’t really face any elite strikers in that span before jumping back into the cage with the champion who knocked him out two years before his second crack. 

Say what you will, but we’re one more first-round TKO away from watching the silver-tongued phenom challenge for UFC gold. 

 

Kristian Ibarra is a Featured Columnist at Bleacher Report MMA. He also serves as the sports editor at San Diego State University’s student-run newspaper, The Daily Aztec. Follow him on Twitter at @Kristian_Ibarra for all things MMA.

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Dennis Siver: Conor McGregor Can Stick His Knockout Prediction ‘in His A–‘

Dennis Siver isn’t taking this lying down.
When Siver faces Conor McGregor this Sunday in the main event of UFC Fight Night 59, he’ll be doing so against a substantial sentimental head wind. Pretty much every observer, oddsmaker and fan is expecting Si…

Dennis Siver isn’t taking this lying down.

When Siver faces Conor McGregor this Sunday in the main event of UFC Fight Night 59, he’ll be doing so against a substantial sentimental head wind. Pretty much every observer, oddsmaker and fan is expecting Siver to lose—decisively—to the Irish phenom in Boston.

The ring leader of these expectations is McGregor himself, who with his typical braggadocio has predicted he will knock Siver out in less than two minutes. 

Siver isn’t known for his silver tongue, but the Russian-born German kickboxer is now hitting back with the same blunt force that characterizes his approach in the cage.

In an interview with German-language publication Ground and Pound (translation h/t CagePotato), Siver said the McGregor hype is premature, that his previous victory against Dustin Poirier was overrated and that McGregor can take that prediction and insert it into a very specific, very dark area of his own body:

Everyone thinks I’ve already lost the fight. You can’t hype someone after four fights. In his last fight [against Poirier] he has looked good, but the battle was only two minutes or so. For me he landed a fluke punch, because until then, the whole thing was even. And his fights before that were also nothing special. I’m not impressed at all. He promised to beat me in two minutes, but he can stick that prediction in his a–.

Siver went on to predict that it would be he who is on the positive end of a knockout result, and he said he is irritated by McGregor apparently talking trash behind the scenes as well as on the public stage.

“When I finish him on Sunday, I’ll laugh,” Siver said in the interview. “I can understand all that s–t talking in front of the camera, but when he does it privately, behind the scenes, that proves to me he is an a—–e.”

There is no question McGregor (16-2) has the momentum going into Fight Night 59. His flamboyant style in the cage and on the mic have quickly elevated the 26-year-old to star status, as evidenced by the fact that UFC brass have said he’ll get the next shot at the UFC featherweight title (despite only five fights under the UFC banner) if he can handle Siver.

But Siver (22-9-1) is no pushover. If not for a drug test failure that overturned a late 2013 win, Siver would be 4-1 since dropping down to featherweight in 2012. 

Scott Harris writes about the serious and less-serious aspects of MMA for Bleacher Report. For more stuff like this, follow Scott on Twitter.

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Quote of the Day: Dennis Siver Thinks Conor McGregor Should “Stick His Predictions in His Ass”


(Siver finishes Paul Kelly with a brutal spinning back kick at UFC 105. Unfortunately, all footage of this fight was lost in the Great Zuffa Fire of 2010.)

According to the advertisements that punctuated yesterday’s Packers-Cowboys game, Conor McGregor will be headlining Fight Night 59 in Boston this weekend. His opponent is something of a mystery man — a UFC newcomer hailing from parts unknown — hence the promotion’s inability to secure any footage of his previous fights. Which seems odd to me, because this mystery gentleman (Dennis Si-ver, am I saying that right?) is apparently of a high-enough caliber to earn McGregor a featherweight title shot should he emerge victorious.

Sarcasm aside, it’s safe to say that the 18-fight UFC veteran (and current +750 underdog. Can you say #1 CONTENDER MATCH!!) has been largely overlooked by the press heading into his fight with McGregor. Maybe the language barrier is to blame, or maybe it’s because Siver is not so easily wowed by the opulence of a drop-top Ferrari tour around Vegas. In any case, it’d be nice to actually hear how the #10 ranked featherweight feels about his “notorious” opponent, fighting in a main event, and being completely counted out in said main event, right?

Well thanks to the always reliable (Deutschland) MMA media, we finally can. In a recent interview with GroundandPound.de, the Russian-born, German-raised fighter took full advantage of his one-stop media tour, pulling a GSP when assessing McGregor’s skillset and laughing off the idea that he wouldn’t last more than two minutes against the Irishman. It was undeniably awesome.

Siver’s strong words are after the jump. 


(Siver finishes Paul Kelly with a brutal spinning back kick at UFC 105. Unfortunately, all footage of this fight was lost in the Great Zuffa Fire of 2010.)

According to the advertisements that punctuated yesterday’s Packers-Cowboys game, Conor McGregor will be headlining Fight Night 59 in Boston this weekend. His opponent is something of a mystery man — a UFC newcomer hailing from parts unknown — hence the promotion’s inability to secure any footage of his previous fights. Which seems odd to me, because this mystery gentleman (Dennis Si-ver, am I saying that right?) is apparently of a high-enough caliber to earn McGregor a featherweight title shot should he emerge victorious.

Sarcasm aside, it’s safe to say that the 18-fight UFC veteran (and current +750 underdog. Can you say #1 CONTENDER MATCH!!) has been largely overlooked by the press heading into his fight with McGregor. Maybe the language barrier is to blame, or maybe it’s because Siver is not so easily wowed by the opulence of a drop-top Ferrari tour around Vegas. In any case, it’d be nice to actually hear how the #10 ranked featherweight feels about his “notorious” opponent, fighting in a main event, and being completely counted out in said main event, right?

Well thanks to the always reliable (Deutschland) MMA media, we finally can. In a recent interview with GroundandPound.de, the Russian-born, German-raised fighter took full advantage of his one-stop media tour, pulling a GSP when assessing McGregor’s skillset and laughing off the idea that he wouldn’t last more than two minutes against the Irishman. It was undeniably awesome.

Everyone thinks I’ve already lost the fight. You can’t hype someone after four fights. In his last fight he has looked good, but the battle was only two minutes or so. For me he landed a fluke punch [against Dustin Poirier], because until then, the whole thing was even. And his fights before that were also nothing special. I’m not impressed at all. He promised to beat me in two minutes, but he can stick that prediction in his ass.

When I finish him on Sunday, I’ll laugh. I can understand all that shit talking in front of the camera, but when he does it privately, behind the scenes, that proves to me he is an asshole.

You hear that, Conor? MY BOY DENNY SEEVES IS NOT IMPRESSED!!!

Truthfully, I’m at something an impasse when it comes to the McGregor-Siver matchup. While I know that McGregor is the kind of brash, marketable personality that the UFC is in increasingly dire need of these days, I would literally give 2 liters of my own blood for the chance to see Dana White’s immediate reaction following a Siver upset (which would hopefully include the angry application of some lip balm). I would bathe in his rage, and it would be glorious.

It’s good to know that fate is on my side, at least. The MMA Gods are nothing if not a vengeful group of bitter misanthropes who get off on our sadness, and throwing a wrench into the hype-machine that is McGregor seems like the perfect opportunity to remind us (and the UFC) not to count our chickens before they hatch. Either that, or they’ll tear CM Punk’s ACL a week out from his first scheduled UFC fight…

I’m onto you, MMA Gods.

–J. Jones