• UFC 122

Winner fighting for the fans against Siver at UFC 122

Andre Winner wants to put on a show for the fans © Getty Images

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One of the best German fighters in MMA takes on arguably one of the most promising lightweights in Britain at UFC 122 this weekend, and Nottingham-born Andre Winner admits he is relishing his stand-up war with Dennis Siver.

Winner walked away from UFC 118 in Boston a frustrated man after Nik Lentz clung to him for the entire three rounds of their match-up on the Spike TV "Prelims Live" portion of the card. Lentz's tactics drew plenty of criticism as he chalked up a dour decision victory, despite Winner walking away without even breaking a sweat.

Looking to move forward from the frustrations of Boston, a stand-up fighter like Siver is the perfect opponent for Winner to get firmly back on track.

"I'm glad to have someone like Dennis Siver to fight," Winner told ESPN. "I think he will bring out a better fighter in me. It's going to be war and I'm sure I will go through my fair share of pain, but he's got the wrong man if he thinks he's going to beat me up for the German fans. I'm prepared to go to war and make him pay for even touching me."

After a few losses within Team Rough House, and some bad luck along the way, Winner is keen to bring the curtain down on 2010 with a bang for both himself and the entire team. "We have had a few losses to go with our wins, but we are fighting at a high level so these things happen.

"I think people just like to make a mountain out of a mole hill, but I do want to end the year on a high and I feel like when I go out and fight I'm going to take revenge for the team and myself."

The Siver v Winner bout is the third fight on the main card, and is already being touted as the potential fight of the night. While a good performance has its credibility for any fighter, the financial impact of claiming "Fight of the Night" honours can be vast.

"I try not to think about [winning] Fight Of The Night because it's just added pressure," Winner said. "I go out and fight like it's any other fight. My hopes for the fight are for me to go out there, perform well, get the win, get a finish, hope the fans love it and collect some cheques (laughs)."

Winner always talks about the fans first. After UFC 118 in Boston his first concern was about the fans, how much they had paid for a ticket, and how frustrated he was about being prevented from putting on a show for them.

Once again, the first thing Winner mentions leading into this fight is the fans, and this Saturday he will have an opponent who will be only too keen to fight him in what could end up being an absolutely classic encounter.

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Chris Park is mmatorch.com's UK specialist. To visit mmatorch.com, click here.

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