Dennis Siver claims Conor McGregor’s trash-talking doesn’t affect him, before proving it does

Conor McGregor appears to be winning the mental battle with German spinning back kick specialist Dennis Siver before their fight in January.

Dennis Siver is due to throw down with Conor McGregor in the main event for the UFC Boston card in January. The German featherweight has been subjected to a deluge of abuse from the Irish UFC  superstar (like everyone else in the division). However, Siver claims that McGregor's insults have not affected his focus in preparation for this fight.

Of course, it motivates me. When he insults me, I want vengeance and I will do that in the fight. I will punish him for it. But he won’t be able to upset me. It’s probably his goal to break people mentally. He can’t do this to me. I'm not so sensitive in that matter. I prepare myself for the fight and will do my thing.

Shortly after ensuring the world that he isn't "sensitive" enough to rise to McGregor's goading, Siver then openly admitted that some of McGregor's taunts have struck a bit close to the nerve in the past, eliciting a response. This completely undermines the point he was trying to make literally sentences ago,

If he gets up to such nonsense again, I will respond to it. I won’t answer every small provocation though,  only when it touches me. Only if it is necessary, there will be an answer from me. I won’t let him fool me. He'll receive backlash. Let's see what happens.

McGregor is on the cusp of a title shot against long-standing champion Jose Aldo. However, Siver has vowed to end McGregor's hopes of fighting for the UFC belt by handing him his first loss in the UFC.

They are pushing and hyping McGregor so much. He is just a human being and if he loses the fight, the hype will already be over. Calm will be restored then. This motivates me even more to end this (hype) right now and to show the world that he is not the kind of guy who they think he is.

UFC Fight Night 59: McGregor v Siver takes place on 18 January 2015 from the TD Garden in Boston. Hat-tip to Ground and Pound