The UFC have announced that Scotland’s Robert Whiteford (11-2) will face Germany’s Dennis Siver (21-9-1NC) at UFC Fight Night in Stockholm, Sweden on October 4.
The match comes as a surprise to some with Whiteford (pictured above) currently not ranked in the UFC featherweight division’s top 15, having only fought twice in the world’s leading MMA promotion with a 1-1 record so far. The 31-year-old lost his UFC debut against submission specialist Jim Hettes via a Triangle Choke technical-submission in the second round at UFC Fight Night in Manchester last October. However, The Dinky Ninjas product then picked up his first UFC victory in March at UFC 171 with a unanimous decision win over Daniel Pineda, and has now been handed an inspiring opportunity against well established competition.
As the #10 ranked featherweight, you may have expected Siver to be facing more established opposition himself, however the German has suffered a number of setbacks since his days of being a dangerous lightweight contender between 2009 and 2011. Siver’s hopes of a lightweight title shot were smashed with a first round submission loss to Donald Cerrone, of which prompted a move to the featherweight ranks. Siver successfully bounced back with a unanimous decision win over Diego Nunes in 2012 before securing another decision victory later that year against replacement opponent Nam Phan. Siver then faced top 145lb contender Cub Swanson in July of 2013, but suffered a TKO loss in the third round. His reputation then took a knock following UFC 168 last year in December when a unanimous decision win over Manvel Gamburyan was overturned due to Siver testing positive for performance enhancing drug hCG. As a result Siver was suspended by the NSAC and Whiteford marks his first fight since.
