In the holographic dictionary between gauge theory in four dimensions and gravity in five dimensions, there is an encoding in the bulk geometry of the phases of the gauge theory. If the correspondence holds at all scales, it is natural to expect that gauge theory contains information about quantum gravity in one higher dimension. We argue that the confining phase of gauge theory has a correspondence with singularity avoidance in quantum gravity. This comes from the observation that confinement appears to be generically associated with repulsion deep in the bulk on the gravity side, which in turn is a consequence of the violation of energy conditions in quantum gravity that lead to singularity avoidance. © 2012 World Scientific Publishing Company.