Rather than ignore his silver-tongued opponent, Dennis Siver has chosen to engage in a war of words with Conor McGregor in anticipation of their showdown at UFC Fight Night 59 in January in Boston.
Perhaps Siver, the UFC's eighth-ranked featherweight, has allowed fifth-ranked McGregor to get under his skin. Or maybe Siver just sees the need to hype their main event fight, one that many pundits have already counted him out of.
Either way, Siver doesn't mind the notion that some experts consider him an amateur compared to McGregor in the realm of trash-talking, or fighting, for that matter.
After all, the Russian-born German citizen continues to play the Irishman's games.
In an interview over the weekend with German-based MMA outlet Ground and Pound, Siver was asked if McGregor's taunts have served as extra motivation in his effort to try to pull off an upset.
I try to handle it in a professional manner. I'm trying to not rise to provocation. Of course, it motivates me. When he insults me, I want vengeance and I will do that in the fight. I will punish him for it. But he won’t be able to upset me. It’s probably his goal to break people mentally. He can’t do this to me. I'm not so sensitive in that matter. I prepare myself for the fight and will do my thing.
This doesn't mark the first instance in which Siver fired back at McGregor on a public stage. In mid-October, Siver offered a surprisingly witty response to a McGregor insult.
Here's a link to McGregor's initial statement (NSFW language) on Oct. 14 and a look at Siver's response a day later.
@TheNotoriousMMA Nice suit u #lametrashtalker #OscarMcGregor #GoldDigger #Goblin @danawhite @ufc @lorenzofertitta pic.twitter.com/1Dpcc91dh0
— Dennis Siver (@DennisSiver) October 15, 2014
McGregor scored his 12th straight win by KO'ing sixth-ranked Dustin Poirier in the first round at UFC 178 in September. During his winning streak, McGregor has won 10 times by form of KO and once by submission.
Siver, who made his UFC debut in 2007, has only tasted defeat twice in his past 10 bouts.
Siver defeated Charles Rosa by unanimous decision in his last bout at UFC Fight Night 53 in October. Siver and Rosa each pocketed $50,000 "Fight of the Night" bonuses for their efforts.
Although he's only fought five times as a featherweight, Siver has competed 18 times in the Octagon. In the UFC's stable of featherweights, only Jeremy Stephens (19 fights) and Clay Guida (20) have more fights in the promotion than Siver.
