The UFC 162 main event between Anderson Silva and Chris Weidman for the middleweight championship has received so much attention that the matches below it have been given little mind. One fight worth a little more time is the Dennis Siver vs Cub Swanson one, because I feel that it is flying “Under the radar”.
Under the radar: Dennis Siver vs Cub Swanson
The featherweight showdown will kick off the main card pay-per-view and should get fans out of their seats right off the hop.
Siver (21-8) made a surprising move down to featherweight after going on a 4-1 streak. The one loss in those five fights was to Donald Cerrone at UFC 137 and prompted the drop in weight. Since moving down to the 145-pound weight class, Siver has gone 2-0. He has picked up big victories over Diego Nunes and a very one sided match-up against Nam Phan.
The two were supposed to face-off back at UFC on FUEL TV 7 in February, but Siver was forced to withdraw from the bout due to undisclosed reasons.
Swanson (19-5) ended up facing off against Dustin Poirier in the nights co-main event and won via unanimous decision. The 29-year old is currently riding a four-fight winning streak and has seemed to have found his groove inside the Octagon. Swanson was on a bit of a roller-coaster ride prior to making the move over to the UFC. He went back and forth with wins and losses in the WEC and lost his UFC debut to Ricardo Lamas back in 2011. Fast-forward two years later and the Team Jackson fighter is on course to setting up a title fight with a victory over Siver.
One thing that must be tough for Swanson is the fact that he defeated the co-main event fighter Charles Oliveira two fights back. He not only beat him, but he earned Knockout of the Night honors for that fight. Oliveira is taking on former lightweight champ and featherweight contender Frankie Edgar. One must think that Oliveira moves quite high up the rankings if he defeats Edgar, which could put Swanson one step behind him.
2012 was an unbelievable year for both fighters, as Swanson went 3-0 and Siver was 2-0. Swanson has already won his first fight of 2013, while Siver will be making his first appearance inside the Octagon since this past December.
(Photo by Nick Laham/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC)
