Dennis Siver (right) file photo: Dave Mandel/Sherdog.com
Both Fisher and Siver have made their names on delivering high-octane offense on the feet with spectacular results. Matching them up creates the natural expectation that a striker’s delight is inevitable, but “The King” may not be willing to overlook Siver’s invisible takedown defense and fundamentally deficient grappling.
In past bouts with heavy hitters such as Thiago Alves and Jeremy Stephens, Fisher wisely opted to use his underrated ground-and-pound instead of recreating Godzilla’s greatest battles with supremely dangerous strikers. While Fisher’s shot does leave much to be desired, he’s surprisingly adroit in the clinch and is particularly adept at driving his hips forward and finishing with leg trips. Not good news for Siver, who has a decent sprawl but struggles to defend takedowns from the clinch due mainly to his difficulties with securing control of his opponent with either under or overhooks.
Should Fisher choose to capitalize on that flaw, he’ll have no trouble either pounding out a decision or perhaps even securing a submission since Siver is prone to giving up dominant positions. However, striking with Siver isn’t beyond his capabilities either. Fisher has the boxing skill to mimic the up-close and personal boxing clinic Ross Pearson ran on the Russian-born body-snatcher.
The reason that sort of trench war strategy is so effective against Siver is that despite not having much of a reach, he actually wants his opponents to stay just on the edge of the pocket. What this does is give him the chance to dart inside with punching combinations while also having the luxury of stepping back and measuring his trademark spinning back kick to the body -- a technique responsible for more ruined livers than Johnny Walker. Pearson, however, constantly stepped inside the pocket, which forced Siver to exchange punches in close quarters and thus kept his kicks mostly on ice. Fisher’s boxing style is actually quite similar to Pearson’s, and he has the added advantage of being a southpaw with a nasty right hook -- a punch that Siver’s defensive stance leaves him severely vulnerable to.
Realistically, this bout is going to go one of two ways: Either Fisher keeps Siver on the defensive with superior boxing or Siver tries to stand his ground and ends up getting taken down. The threat of a rip-snapping kick to the body finding its mark is omnipresent in any Siver fight, but Fisher isn’t going to give him the space to measure it. Take away the space and you take away Siver’s best weapons, a fact that will be driven home when Fisher takes a clean sweep of the judges’ scorecards.