A high quality featherweight bout between two exciting strikers who both have a devastating arsenal of kicks. There is a lot in stake in this fight as the winner steps up straight into the title mix of the UFC featherweight division.
Diego Nunes (17-2), Brazil
Basic info: Nunes is a 29 year old Brazilian who represents the famed Nova Uniao and currently fights out of Los Angeles. In LA he divides his training between Blackhouse MMA, Maywood Boxing and UFC Gym in Torrance. Nunes started training Muay Thai at the tender age of 15 and fought his first striking matches at 17. He is 167 cm tall with a 170 cm reach.
Career: Before getting signed by the late WEC, Nunes fought at the local shows in Brazil for four years. During this time he put together an impressive record of 11-0 with a notable win over Henrique Mello. Nunes was then signed by the WEC where he went 4-1 before the promotion was merged with the UFC. In WEC Nunes’ best win is over former contender Raphael Assuncao. The lone loss in WEC came in the hands of LC Davis who was able to manhandle Nunes with superior wrestling. In the UFC Nunes has gone 2-1 with wins over former WEC champ Mike Brown and contender Manny Gamburyan while losing to title challenger Kenny Florian. Interesting fact is that early in his career Nunes finished all of his 11 fights but in the WEC and UFC he has gone to decision eight times in a row now.
Strengths and Weaknesses: Technically sound and diverse striking is absolutely Nunes’ best asset as a fighter. Especially his great variety of kicks is what sets him apart from most featherweight fighters. Like all Nova Uniao fighters also Nunes has a competent ground game. Five of his six submission wins have come via guillotine choke. As evident in the LC Davis fight, Nunes had problems with defensive wrestling before but he has worked a lot in the US to fix this weakness. Based on his last few fights he has made significant improvements in this department.
Keys to Victory: Stay out of the clinch. Set up the kicks with hand strike combinations. Control the distance with jab and straight kicks. Counter Siver’s looping punches with roundhouse kicks. Watch out for the spinning back kick.
Dennis “the Menace” Siver (19-8), Germany
Basic info: Russian born Siver has been living in Germany since he was 17. He started his martial arts career with kickboxing in which he became the national WAKO champ in 1997. 33 year old Siver fights out of Mannheim in southwest Germany where he trains at the Kiboju gym. For a lightweight fighter Siver is quite short at 170 cm and has a reach of 178 cm.
Career: Siver has been fighting for the UFC already since 2007 and fought 13 fights in the promotion which makes him one of the most experienced European fighters in the UFC. Before the UFC career Siver fought in the Euro circuit going 10-3 with most notable wins being over UK’s Jim Wallhead and Paul Jenkins. Siver is currently on his second run in the UFC. His first run wasn’t a very successful one as he went 1-3 in four fights losing to guys like Melvin Guillard and Gray Maynard. However Siver quickly bounced back and after a one victorious bout outside of the UFC was signed again. His second campaign started with three consecutive wins before Englishman Ross Pearson was able to outstruck Siver to a decision win. After this loss Siver again put together an impressive winning streak including his biggest wins to date: decisions over contenders Matt Wiman and George Sotiropoulos. In his latest bout at the UFC 137 Siver was dropped and choked out by Donald Cerrone in the first round. This will be his first fight in the featherweight division.
Strengths and Weaknesses: Siver comes from a karate influenced kickboxing background that is still evident in striking: wide stance, fast snapping kicks and spinning strikes like the back fist and back kick. In the boxing department his best weapon is a heavy lead hook. Siver’s grappling has improved a lot during his UFC career. He has a solid takedown defence and an ability to create scrambles and get back to the feet. Siver’s biggest weakness is his defensive striking combined with his short reach which leads to him getting tagged too much when matched up with strikers like Pearson and Cerrone. Siver was already a physically powerful fighter at lightweight so one would guess that he will hold a strength advantage over most featherweights.
Keys to Victory: Use the size and strength advantage by clinching early and often. Push Nunes against the fence and punish him with knees and go for takedowns. If Nunes gets sloppy with his kicks, try to catch a leg and take him down. If the opportunity presents itself, blast him the liver kick.
