UFC 127 – George Sotiropoulos vs. Dennis Siver Prediction

GEORGE SOTIROPOULOS vs. DENNIS SIVER

Fight Overview:  An interesting style matchup, as two prolific grapplers who have added effective striking to their games go at it.  Siver is a very creative and powerful striker, but Sotiropoulos has a great jab, solid fundamentals, and most importantly one of the best jiu-jitsu games in the division.

Siver’s Strengths:  Siver is a creative and devastating striker who can use a variety of unorthodox strikes to hurt opponents.  He also has extremely effective submission.

Siver’s Weaknesses:  His submission defense is not particularly great.

Sotiropoulos’ Strengths:  His boxing is very technically sound and he uses the jab well to set up both combos and his takedowns.  More importantly he has some of the best submissions in the world at Lightweight.

Sotiropoulos’ Weaknesses:  He is not a dominant wrestler and he doesn’t have the same variety of techniques or power as Siver does in the standup.

The Verdict:  I think Sotiropoulos is going to be too much for Siver.  Siver is the more dynamic and powerful striker, but Sotiropoulos is more technically sound and works his jab far better.  Most importantly, though, I don’t think Siver can knock Sotiropoulos out before Sotiropoulos drags him to the ground and submits him.  Sotiropoulos by submission.