The UFC Fight Night 59: “McGregor vs. Siver” weigh-in took place earlier today from Boston, MA., with all fighters on point in their respective weight classes. Check out the full video replay above, or storm to 25:10 to see what you really want.
With the Irish flag hovered around his body, Conor McGregor hit the stage, and upon making weight, bragged about hitting it right on the noggin and wrapped an imaginary title around his waist.
The UFC Fight Night 59: “McGregor vs. Siver” weigh-in took place earlier today from Boston, MA., with all fighters on point in their respective weight classes. Check out the full video replay above, or storm to 25:10 to see what you really want.
With the Irish flag hovered around his body, Conor McGregor hit the stage, and upon making weight, bragged about hitting it right on the noggin and wrapped an imaginary title around his waist.
“That’s 1-4-5 … that’s championship weight. Tell Jose I’m coming.”
Other highlights include Benson Henderson and Donald Cerrone being really great friends, Ron Stallings trying to get into Uriah Hall‘s head, and Sean O’Connell tapping Matt Van Buren’s nose in a flirty kind of way. Apart from that, composure was more or less maintained, and things didn’t get all that testy (no pun intended).
Join us tomorrow night for our habitual liveblog and post-fight recaps.
Between “Hey pussy, are you still there?” and “Kiss them feet Nazi,” it’s easy to think that all UFC fighters hate each other, or at least feign enough hate to sell some tickets. Donald Cerrone and Benson Henderson proved otherwise during their staredown at the UFC Fight Night 59 media day yesterday. Let’s timestamp the awesomeness:
0:04 – Cerrone steps into frame and excitedly claps his hands and stomps his foot because he’s just so damn excited to see his buddy Benson again. They embrace like two long-lost friends.
0:10 – Dana White reminds them they’re here to promote a fight and tells them to square off. Cerrone, who’s already four inches taller than Henderson, gets up on his toes, and Henderson just smiles and laughs because his buddy Donald is such a clown.
0:15 – Dana tells them to “face forward, shoulder to shoulder,” and Cerrone takes the command as literally as possible, then starts nudging at Henderson like a young boy pestering his older brother. Cerrone, wearing a soon-to-be-banned Budweiser shirt, announces that “rounds are on ‘Cowboy’ after this fight.”
Between “Hey pussy, are you still there?” and “Kiss them feet Nazi,” it’s easy to think that all UFC fighters hate each other, or at least feign enough hate to sell some tickets. Donald Cerrone and Benson Henderson proved otherwise during their staredown at the UFC Fight Night 59 media day yesterday. Let’s timestamp the awesomeness:
0:04 – Cerrone steps into frame and excitedly claps his hands and stomps his foot because he’s just so damn excited to see his buddy Benson again. They embrace like two long-lost friends.
0:10 – Dana White reminds them they’re here to promote a fight and tells them to square off. Cerrone, who’s already four inches taller than Henderson, gets up on his toes, and Henderson just smiles and laughs because his buddy Donald is such a clown.
0:15 – Dana tells them to “face forward, shoulder to shoulder,” and Cerrone takes the command as literally as possible, then starts nudging at Henderson like a young boy pestering his older brother. Cerrone, wearing a soon-to-be-banned Budweiser shirt, announces that “rounds are on ‘Cowboy’ after this fight.”
0:21 – Henderson grabs Cerrone’s cowboy hat — which might cheese the latter in another circumstance, but this is his boy Benson — so Cerrone returns the favor and grabs Henderson big knit cap. They put on each other’s hats, and the crowd (and media?) is just eating this shit up.
0:35 – They return each other’s respective hat, and Cerrone goes full McConaughey, telling Henderson, “See you on the other side.” These guys, man.
If you don’t understand why this interaction is so special, go back and watch Henderson and Cerrone’s first two fights from WEC 43 and WEC 48.
The UFC hasn’t been subtle about fast-tracking Conor McGregor for a shot at Jose Aldo’s featherweight title, so it surprised many people when they booked the young Irishman to fight Dennis Siver at UFC Fight Night 59, this Sunday in Boston. Why not a highly-ranked wrestler like Chad Mendes, Frankie Edgar, or Ricardo Lamas? The crack research team at Cage Potato dug into the data and may have figured out how the UFC came to its decision…
1. Siver is familiar with Brazilian jiu-jitsu
(Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
Dennis Siver made his UFC debut at UFC 70, and Mike Goldberg noted that Siver was “a German kickboxing champ” who had “defeated ten of thirteen opponents.” That’s a great record! The UFC matched him with Jess Liaudin, who was also making his promotional debut and had accumulated a 12-8 pro MMA record. Above .500! Also pretty good! Siver took down Liaudin early on, and Goldberg remarked that Siver had a lot of jiu-jitsu training. That training came in handy when he was cognizant enough to tap out to Liaudin’s armbar from guard at 1:21 of the first. People can criticize McGregor for not having fought a wrestler, but they won’t be able to say the same of a jiu-jitsu player after Sunday.
2. Siver is a model of German efficiency
(Dennis is the guy on the right. Poster-’shop via Jeremy Botter)
The UFC hasn’t been subtle about fast-tracking Conor McGregor for a shot at Jose Aldo’s featherweight title, so it surprised many people when they booked the young Irishman to fight Dennis Siver at UFC Fight Night 59, this Sunday in Boston. Why not a highly-ranked wrestler like Chad Mendes, Frankie Edgar, or Ricardo Lamas? The crack research team at Cage Potato dug into the data and may have figured out how the UFC came to its decision…
1. Siver is familiar with Brazilian jiu-jitsu
(Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
Dennis Siver made his UFC debut at UFC 70, and Mike Goldberg noted that Siver was “a German kickboxing champ” who had “defeated ten of thirteen opponents.” That’s a great record! The UFC matched him with Jess Liaudin, who was also making his promotional debut and had accumulated a 12-8 pro MMA record. Above .500! Also pretty good! Siver took down Liaudin early on, and Goldberg remarked that Siver had a lot of jiu-jitsu training. That training came in handy when he was cognizant enough to tap out to Liaudin’s armbar from guard at 1:21 of the first. People can criticize McGregor for not having fought a wrestler, but they won’t be able to say the same of a jiu-jitsu player after Sunday.
2. Siver is a model of German efficiency
(Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
After the Liaudin fight, Siver dropped down to lightweight and split a pair of fights. He then fought Melvin Guillard, who was returning to the UFC after one fight outside the organization. Guillard knocked Siver down right off the bat with two overhand rights. Siver attempted an armbar — he had a lot of jiu-jitsu training, remember — but Guillard snuck out. Siver bravely got back to his feet before Guillard landed a right hand that stiffened his legs and another right hand that put him back on the mat. Herb Dean officially stepped in at 36 seconds of the first round. Siver went 0 for 1 in strikes, and it doesn’t get any more efficient than that.
3. Siver is an artist in the cage
(Photo by Jed Jacobsohn/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
Siver came into this bout on a four-fight winning streak, the longest of his UFC career. As he entered the arena to Papa Roach’s “Last Resort,” Goldberg mentioned that Siver “is truly the possessor of the most dangerous spinning back kick in the UFC today, but Dennis Siver is a lot more than a spinning back kick.” Cerrone must have known this too, because he didn’t allow Siver to unleash even one. Cerrone followed up an inside leg kick with a high kick that caught Siver flush, sending him Fedor-Fujita fish-flopping. (Fedor’s a great comparison for Siver, because they were both born in Russia and they’re both great fighters.) Siver clinched and recovered, but a Cerrone right hand sent him rolling around on the mat like Lesnar-Overeem. (Brock Lesnar’s another great comparison for Siver since Siver looks like a miniature Lesnar and, of course, they’re both great fighters.) Cerrone locked up a rear-naked choke, and even Goethe would have admired Siver’s irony. Suffocation, no breathing.
4. Siver raised his stock against Manny Gamburyan
(Photo by Donald Miralle/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
Siver needed a bounceback after being finished by Cub Swanson, and he got it against Manny Gamburyan at UFC 168. Unfortunately, the Nevada commission found hCG in Siver’s system. This hormone is often naturally produced during pregnancy or by some cancerous tumors. The NSAC decided the Gamburyan fight never happened (though I assure you it did), fined him nearly $20,000, and suspended him for nine months, despite never following up on whether was pregnant and/or had cancer. The silver lining, though, is that these events helped raise Siver’s profile higher than ever before, putting him in position for the McGregor fight.
5. Siver is comfortable under pressure
(Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
Sunday will mark Siver’s first time in a main event, and he’s even stated that it’s the biggest fight of his career. You might worry that the heavy promotion and stature of the fight will play a role in Siver’s psyche, but you needn’t worry. Siver is coming off a victory over undefeated American wrecking machine Charles Rosa (Wikipedia page under construction) that saw him overcome the pressure of fighting on the prelim portion of a Fight Pass event in Sweden. A man who has dealt with the hostile politeness of a nonpartisan Swedish mob will not be phased by the six-degrees-of-Irish-heritage Boston crowd.
Here’s a bonus clip from our conversation, about the UFC’s reported plan to award Conor McGregor a title shot against Jose Aldo if he can get past Dennis Siver later this month at UFC Fight Night 59. Is this the right move by the UFC? And will McGregor blow through Siver as quickly as he claims? The answers await you in the video above. Thanks for watching, and follow TYT Sports on twitter if you like sports-things.
Here’s a bonus clip from our conversation, about the UFC’s reported plan to award Conor McGregor a title shot against Jose Aldo if he can get past Dennis Siver later this month at UFC Fight Night 59. Is this the right move by the UFC? And will McGregor blow through Siver as quickly as he claims? The answers await you in the video above. Thanks for watching, and follow TYT Sports on twitter if you like sports-things.
But this UFC Ultimate Insider segment on McGregor uses a different tactic: Presenting McGregor as a real human being. He has a sister who he used to scrap with as a child, and parents who were worried about their son giving up a stable life as a plumber to pursue cage-fighting. His mom maybe still doesn’t know what MMA is. (“Da boxin’ kind of gave him a complete different outlook,” she says.) At the 1:54 mark, Conor’s father Tony describes one of his son’s early fights against “an Eastern European guy…ex-Special Forces from Russia.” Tony can barely get through the story before he gets choked up. “That was a defining moment for me,” Tony says. “Boy become man.”
It’s a powerful moment, and it makes McGregor so much more relatable than all of his usual bluster. I also enjoyed this charming — and so utterly Irish — monologue that McGregor makes on the topic of money:
But this UFC Ultimate Insider segment on McGregor uses a different tactic: Presenting McGregor as a real human being. He has a sister who he used to scrap with as a child, and parents who were worried about their son giving up a stable life as a plumber to pursue cage-fighting. His mom maybe still doesn’t know what MMA is. (“Da boxin’ kind of gave him a complete different outlook,” she says.) At the 1:54 mark, Conor’s father Tony describes one of his son’s early fights against “an Eastern European guy…ex-Special Forces from Russia.” Tony can barely get through the story before he gets choked up. “That was a defining moment for me,” Tony says. “Boy become man.”
It’s a powerful moment, and it makes McGregor so much more relatable than all of his usual bluster. I also enjoyed this charming — and so utterly Irish — monologue that McGregor makes on the topic of money:
“You ever hear the saying, ‘It’s hard to get up and run when you’re wearing silk underwear’? As if to say, like, I made some money, it’s hard to actually get up and motivate. But I’ve got a foolproof plan: When you get your money, spend every penny of it. Blow it all, until you’re actually broke come the next fight. So you’re just as hungry as you were before the first one. So I’m in the process of blowing every penny of that. Every f*ckin’ penny of it, yeah?”
Then, he goes suit shopping. Please, somebody make me a Vine of 5:44-5:46. Thanks.
