The Doggy Bag: UFC 127 Edition
Siver Lining
Feb 20, 2011
Dennis Siver (above, left) has the standup to make George
Sotiropoulos cautious. | Dave Mandel/Sherdog.com
It seems people are completely writing off Dennis Siver against George Sotiropoulos. G-Sot probably has Siver's number on the ground, but am I crazy for thinking Siver has a big advantage on the feet? It seems like he's really found his rhythm standing. He almost KO'd Andre Winner, who everybody thought had awesome boxing. Is Sotiropoulos really that good standing that Siver can't land those powerful hands or set up a spinning back kick?
-- Anthony from Brooklyn
Tomasz Marciniak, European correspondent: In an absolute sense, I don't think Sotiropoulos will pull off the victory completely unscathed, so that would be the most literal answer to your question.
In all seriousness, though, I really only see Siver finding his striking rhythm when he's blowing out inferior strikers. Against stiffer tests like Ross Pearson and Spencer Fisher, he's not as dynamic. Frankly, even the fight against Winner was pretty even on the feet until the big shot that put the Brit on the mat. His striking hasn't produced highlight-reel knockouts against quality lightweights, even if the aforementioned Pearson went airborne after taking one of those spinning back kicks to the ribs.
Sotiropoulos presents an interesting challenge stylistically in the striking department because his offense is almost exclusively punches and he has a typical orthodox boxing stance with one leg way in front of the other. Perhaps mashing that leg is a viable strategy for Siver but overall, seeing the great danger on the ground that Sotiropoulos presents, I actually think the Omsk, Russia,-born German might be more tentative in the stand-up than usual, and not able to produce the kind of finish we saw against Paul Kelly, or even Winner.
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