Al Iaquinta questions Conor McGregor’s heart heading into the Irishman’s highly anticipated bout with Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 229.
If Conor McGregor doesn’t get his way at UFC 229, and Khabib Nurmagomedov weathers the early storm and imposes his will upon the former featherweight and lightweight champion — like he has done to so many opponents in the past — will ‘The Notorious’ give up and look for a way out of the fight?
‘Raging Al’ Iaquinta certainly seems to think it’s a possibility, claiming that McGregor ‘quit’ against Nate Diaz at UFC 196.
“I think he could just get after him,” Iaquinta said of Nurmagomedov in a recent interview with MMA Fighting. “Get after him, keep the pressure on him. Conor, he’s quit before. He’s given up. Against Diaz, it gets a little later rounds. I think he’s a pretty fighter. If the fight is pretty and it’s going good for him … [Chad] Mendes took that fight on no notice. He had zero in the gas tank going into that fight. If it’s five rounds of that, I think Conor is finding a way out.”
McGregor, 30, was overwhelmed by a Diaz flurry in the second round and desperately shot for a takedown. The SBG Ireland product was swiftly reversed by Diaz and, for the first time in his UFC career, tapped to a rear-naked choke submission. McGregor avenged his loss to Diaz in the instant rematch, taking home a majority decision in a five-round, Fight of the Night and Fight of the Year classic classic at Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena in 2016.
Iaquinta, who lost a lopsided decision to Nurmagomedov earlier this year at UFC 223, is rooting for ‘The Eagle’ to hand McGregor his second stoppage loss inside the Octagon at UFC 229.
“I hope he does,” Iaquinta said. “It would look good for me — if he beats the shit out of him more than he beat the shit out of me on a day’s notice. It’d look real good. So, I hope Khabib f*cking knocks his ass out, makes him quit and rearranges his face like he says he’s gonna do. I think it’s gonna happen — I hope it happens.”
UFC 229: Khabib vs. McGregor takes place next month, Oct. 6 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.