Conor McGregor predicts quick finish of Dennis Siver: I cannot see him escaping the first two minutes

Bloody Elbow 2.0 | Anton Tabuena

Irish sensation Conor McGregor has made a habit of making bold proclamations ahead of his scheduled fights inside the UFC. He made no exception this time around against Dennis Siver, as he confidently suggested that the fight would not last over two minutes.

“So January 18th, I feel I will stop Dennis Siver inside two minutes,” McGregor said on the UFC 182 PPV (via MMAFighting.com). “I’ve ran through some scenarios, I cannot see him escaping the first two minutes. He is a seasoned veteran, he is a kickboxing expert, a taekwondo expert, he is my most experienced competitor that I will ever have faced. But I feel that under two minutes it will take me to dispatch him, and again it will make way for the football stadium in Ireland.”

After compiling a 4-0 record inside the octagon, including recent wins over Diego Brandao and Dustin Poirier, McGregor believes it is only a matter of time before he can wrap the championship title around his waist. In fact, given his dominant showings, it wouldn’t surprise him if he was the betting favourite from now onwards.

“I’m not looking past him, I’m looking through him,” McGregor said. “This has been my approach the whole time. I say what I’m going to do to my opponent and map out what is next. This is no different. I’ve been doing this since I stepped foot inside the Octagon. The only difference now is, my previously opponents were supposed to beat me. Dustin (Poirier) was supposed to beat me. (Diego) Brandao was supposed to beat me. (Max) Holloway was supposed to beat me. (Marcus) Brimage was my first UFC caliber opponent, and I came through. The only difference here is that now everybody expects me to win. So I am grateful that the fans see what I see now. They are seeing the clearer picture, that there is nobody that can stand in my way.

“It will be the same outcome when myself and Jose face off. He will not stand a chance, and the fans will see that as well. I believe I will be the betting favorite on all of these future contests. I certainly feel that way.”

Transcription taken from MMAFighting.com.

Share this story

About the author

Karim Zidan

Karim Zidan is a investigative reporter and feature writer focusing on the intersection of sports and politics. He has written for BloodyElbow since 2014 and has served as an associate editor since 2016. He also writes for The New York Times and The Guardian. Karim has been invited to speak about his work at numerous universities, including Princeton, and was a panelist at the South by Southwest (SXSW) film festival and the Oslo Freedom Forum. He also participated in the United Nations counter-terrorism conference in 2021. His reporting on Ramzan Kadyrov’s involvement in MMA, much of which was done for Bloody Elbow, has led to numerous award nominations, and was the basis of an award-winning HBO Real Sports documentary.