(Siver demonstrating his ground prowess against CP’s homeboy, Jess “The Joker” Liaudin.)
Often when hyping an upcoming bout or angling for a title shot, fighters will oversell their skill sets and inflate their accomplishments, so it’s no surprise that a middle of the pack UFC lightweight like Dennis Siver would follow suit, especially when his next bout is against a guy like George Sotiropoulos, who is likely one or two wins away from a title shot.
Siver did an interview recently with Tapology and said that he is planning on choking out the decorated Aussie BJJ black belt if their UFC 127 bout hits the mat — a lofty endeavor, considering G-Sots has never been finished in his MMA career and has notched eight of his 14 wins via submission. Siver, on the other hand is 7-4 when his fights finish on the mat and has never faced a grappler of Sotiropoulos’ caliber.
Still, the Russian-born kickboxer either seems to think he’s going to shock everyone or he’s throwing out a red herring to try to keep Sotiropoulos guessing.
“I don’t see this fight going over the judges scorecards. My game plan is to fight him in stand up; this is where I feel dominant against a ground specialist, but of course if we end up on the mats, we will fight there as well. My style is mostly based on boxing and kicking, but my ground game has become even better, so I’m more prepared to fight on the ground as well. I can punch and kick out of any angles and my counters are very dangerous. I think I’m ready to fight someone from the top five, so George is great for my next test,” he explains. “George is a really nice guy and a great fighter, and his BJJ is amazing. I think his game plan is to take me down. His ground game is so high level, so only a few guys can compete with him on the ground and not got submitted. My ground game is underrated, and this is good. My opponent will be surprised when the ‘kickboxer’ can choke him out.”
We sent George a message yesterday asking for comment on Siver’s dubious claim.
Here’s his reply:
“I’ll remember to protect that neck.”
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I think Siver’s best chance in this fight is to catch Sot early with either his left hook or in a best case scenario, his spinning back kick. Based on George’s fights he seems to be a slow starter and Siver definetly has great stamina, but if he thinks he is choking out GSOT then he needs to rethink his game plan.