If you were to go by the oddsmakers, Conor McGregor has pretty much already beaten Dennis Siver as he is a whopping 1/10 favourite over his upcoming opponent.
But when you do some research on the career of Siver, you realise he might not be the pushover that most of the MMA world consider him to be.
We profile the Russian-German and what skills he brings to the octagon against “The Notorious” on Sunday night.
February 28, 2004
Dennis Siver makes his professional debut where he quickly gets the finish over Kordian Szukala and required just 17 seconds to get the job done at Outsider Cup 2.
The fight would be the start of a five-fight winning streak with just one of the bouts needing the judges and Siver was starting to look like a serious contender on the European fight scene.
March 5, 2006
After a minor blip in his sixth outing, falling to a kimura at the hands of Fabricio Nascimento, Siver was given the opportunity to impress in a welterweight tournament in Liverpool with up-and-coming European promotion Cage Warriors.
He won his first two fights, finishing both Jonas Ericsson and John Kavanagh student Adrian Degorski, before falling to Arni Isaksson in the final.
But Siver’s striking prowess was clear for all to see and, at 27, he was still maturing as a mixed martial artist.
May 20, 2006
After losing two fights in a row for the first time in his burgeoning career, Siver rallied with a heel-hook victory over experienced Welsh brawler Paul Jenkins at WFC: Europe vs. Brazil.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fKeZoF_25c
That set up another win for Siver over Said Khalilov before he was welcomed back to Cage Warriors in December of that year to take on England’s Jim Wallhead, a test that Siver passed with flying colours as he secured an armbar in the second round in the most important fight of his career to date.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TBVRLmNx5o
April 21, 2007
UFC debut! The day that every fighter dreams about. Dennis Siver was given the chance to perform on the world’s biggest exhibition of mixed martial arts when he went up against fellow European debutant Jess Liaudin at UFC 70 in Manchester, England.
Like they do to hundreds of fighters, the UFC jitters got to Siver and he froze on his dream day, finding himself on the receiving end of an armbar after just 90 seconds which forced the tap.
September 8, 2007
The Mannheim fighter was given the opportunity to redeem himself later that year when he made his lightweight debut against Japanese standout Naoyuki Kotani, who was also coming off a loss in his first UFC fight, at UFC 75.
Siver took full advantage of his second chance by catching Kotani in the second round with a textbook left hook which put the Japanese on his back, enabling Siver to inflict some ground and pound to go 1-1 in the UFC.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGwdqs_HJoQ
July 5, 2008
Coming off his latest UFC loss, this time to eventual lightweight challenger Gray Maynard, Siver took on the explosive TUF veteran Melvin Guillard at UFC 86.
He made it just over thirty seconds with the uber-athletic Guillard and, after being on the wrong end of a knockout punch, Siver was left looking for a fight outside the UFC.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHXRPrS_5zs
January 17, 2009
At UFC 93, Siver was welcomed back by Dana White and has been a staple of the promotion’s roster ever since. In January of 2009, we first saw Siver’s signature spinning back kick when he connected with the midriff of Nate Mohr in the third round.
That set up another victory, this time via submission, over Dale Hartt at UFC 99 before that spinning back kick reared it’s gorgeous head again at UFC 105 in November of 2009 with Paul Kelly falling victim to it this time and, before we knew it, Dennis Siver was putting together a nice little UFC run for himself.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0Eb19aUMY0
July 2, 2011
Since his return to the Las Vegas promotion in 2009, Siver won seven of his eight bouts with the UFC, the latest of which came against lightweight gatekeeper Matt Wiman.
The decision victory showed that Siver was not a one-trick (spinning back kick) pony as he was beginning to display some grittiness as he battled his way to three judges’ decisions in his past four fights.
October 29, 2011
With the victory over Wiman, Siver met with top contender Donald Cerrone at UFC 137 with the knowledge that a win over “Cowboy” would put him right in the title picture.
But Cerrone was the better man on the night and he submitted the German fighter via rear naked choke in the first round.
April 14, 2012
After being outclassed by a big “Cowboy”, Siver made the decision to drop down to featherweight to make one last run at a championship belt before retirement.
His first opponent at 145lbs was the versatile Brazilian Diego Nunes at UFC on Fuel TV: Gustafsson v Silva.
Siver outstruck “The Gun” on the feet which earned him a unanimous decision victory.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLlpbdnQy2w
December 8, 2012
Siver started to be viewed as a serious force at featherweight when he added Nam Phan’s name to his win column at UFC on FOX: Henderson v Diaz.
He used superior kickboxing to be awarded his second consecutive unanimous decision and was looking to be fighting with zero difficulty since his drop to 145lbs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3jpOpekRko
July 6, 2013
Earning Fight of the Night after his UFC 162 meeting with Cub Swanson would bring little consolation to Siver who was TKO’d by the American featherweight contender in the third round.
It was the first time that Siver truly showed his age (34 at the time) by appearing more sluggish and sloppy in his striking against Swanson, despite putting on an exciting display of back-and-forth action.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RC27i-jycpE
December 28, 2013
Siver looked to be an unstoppable force after he was given the nod by the judges for the third consecutive time in a bout with powerful Judoka Manny Gamburyan at UFC 168.
But it wasn’t that simple for “The Menace” who saw his win taken away from him after a post-fight urine test came back positive for Human chorionic gonadotropin and the fight was changed to a No Contest.
Siver was also suspended by the Nevada State Athletic Commission and didn’t compete again for over nine months.
October 4, 2014
The Mannheim man made a successful return to the octagon when he met the then-undefeated Charles Rosa at UFC Fight Night: Nelson v Story.
The unanimous decision train continued to roll as if the banned substance issue had never taken place as he edged a victory over the American Top Team featherweight.
January 18, 2015
Dennis Siver meets our very own Conor McGregor at UFC Fight Night 59 in Boston. McGregor is heavily tipped to continue his meteoric rise up the featherweight division and “The Notorious” will be rewarded with a title shot if he comes out on top against Siver. While the bookies are rarely wrong and we’re not doubting the Dublin 145lb superstar for a split second, he’d want to be drilling some counters to the spinning back kicks.
