There was a triumphant feeling around the Irish MMA fans boarding their flights home after UFC 178. With Dana White making all the right noises regarding a possible title shot after the Dubliner’s dispatch of Dustin Poirier, the Irish were content in the knowledge that after Chad Mendes their man would get his crack at Jose Aldo.
However, when it was announced that McGregor would instead face German veteran Dennis Siver on Sunday January 18 in Boston, initially there was a lot of confusion. Although it seems everybody has gotten over the fact that ‘The Notorious’ will have to face someone bellow him, McGregor himself explained how the fight came about and admitted that he wasn’t too happy with the matchup initially.
“I know that Jose can’t defend the title yet, that was a five round war that will take its toll for the rest of his career,” said McGregor. “He will be paying for that for the rest of his career. These are five round wars and when you’re in them they take their toll.
“His body needs a rest, I figured that this was going to happen. I spoke to Lorenzo about it. I wanted to keep busy – I said give me a 155 lbs fight and they came back with this fight.
“Before UFC 178 they told me they were interested in the Dennis Siver fight. At the time I didn’t like the fight. I don’t think Dennis deserves it. I don’t think he’s worthy.
“In saying that, Dennis has been around a long time. He’s a veteran. He won the first two rounds against Cub and then he got stopped in the third. He’s fought in multiple weight divisions. It is what it is, I won’t underestimate anyone but I’m extremely confident going in against any man.
“I will put him away in one. I believe I will retire him on January 18.”
McGregor went on to blast Siver over his failed drug test that saw his December 2013 win over Manny Gamburyan overturned to a no contest. The SBG talent promised that he would be “using that as fuel to show no remorse for him” come fight night.
He said: “For me, he’s a compact fighter. His reactions have remained the same throughout the years. He’s a typical journeyman – he gets in, he shows up – but at the end of the day he’s a cheat. Let’s make that damn clear. The man is a cheat.
“I can understand with the older veterans and the way that the TRT and all that went down, but what was his excuse? He was caught taking stuff to hide the stuff he was taking. That’s what he was caught on. That’s how deep he was in that game.
“The man is a cheat, I’m sure he’s been a cheat his whole career. I plan on using that as fuel to show no remorse for him. I will knock him out stiff. I will retire him, this will be his last fight, mark my words.”
It seems that most of the international MMA community are leaning heavily toward McGregor to take victory over Siver, whereas in his other outings opinions have been fairly split. The Irish featherweight discussed the questions that are constantly asked of him and how he takes a lot from people’s belief in him.
“For people to think that, that’s a beautiful thing – for people to have that belief in me that I have in myself. That’s the belief I have, that it’s not even a question – it’s easy. I go in, I experiment, I shut them down and I put them away.
“Make no mistake, he’s a tough guy, he’s a vet. He’s small, he’s strong and compact. People are seeing now – they’re running out of questions. There are always questions.
“When I ran into Brimage – I hadn’t fought UFC caliber. The Holloway fight – I haven’t fought seasoned strikers. The Brandao fight – I haven’t fought Brazilian jiu jitsu black belts with knockout power. The Poirier fight –I haven’t fought top 5 opponents.
“There is always something, but for me it’s going to be a smooth contest. It will be one-sided like I always say. That’s that, it will be another first round KO. Back to back to back first round KOs. This will be third fight in as long as any of these fools have fought one.
“Most of them have only fought once and I have had three. And I will have back to back to back first round KOs, steaming my way through the division like I said I would. I said I’d steam through everyone and that’s it. I will continue to do so until there is nobody left.
“Like I said, the division will consist of one. It will be a one man division when I’m done with it,” he said.
When commenting on the Lamas vs Bermudez bout from last weekend, McGregor quipped that he had sponsored Bermudez and insisted both of the fighters were trying to be him in the build-up to the contest.
“I sponsored Dennis,” he answered quickly when asked about the Mexico City fight. “It (the fight) was alright, it wasn’t great was it? I never really rated Dennis, I don’t really rate Ricardo either. It was weird in the build-up they were trying to talk like me, they were trying to look like me, they were trying to be me – it’s funny to me I suppose.
“Dennis lost his streak, I believe he lost against Max anyway. He lost against Holloway in my eyes. Lamas lost like a pussy in the Jose Aldo fight. He showed up just to survive, just to be there. He showed up for the chance, I said it then and I’ll still say it now, he showed up for the chance.”
With Croke Park and the Aviva stadium being batted around for possible venues for UFC’s return to Ireland in the summer, McGregor kept his cards close to his chest with regard to the Irish date:
“Of course I’ve heard something, but I don’t divulge that information. You end up in the Las Vegas desert doing that. We have spoken about it so we’ll see what happens. I’ve got Boston in January and then we’ll see from there.”
@PetesyCarroll
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