Al Iaquinta is preparing for a war against Kevin Lee at UFC on FOX 31.
Kevin Lee is out for revenge against Al Iaquinta at UFC on FOX 31, and ‘Raging Al’ knows it.
Iaquinta beat ‘The Motown Phenom’ via unanimous decision back at UFC 169 in 2014, but the Kevin Lee of 2018 is a different beast altogether.
The 26-year-old has surged through the UFC lightweight rankings and put on the performance of his career against Edson Barboza at UFC Fight Night 128, beating the Brazilian to a pulp at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Iaquinta, who dropped a decision loss to reigning lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov in a short notice fight at UFC 223, believes Lee could be a ‘tougher’ matchup than ‘The Eagle’.
“Everything was correct about this and nothing was correct about the last one,” Iaquinta said of his previously scheduled bout with Justin Gaethje, which was called off after Iaquinta suffered an injury in training (h/t Marc Raimondi of MMA Fighting). “It was like injuries, coming off that Khabib fight I was still banged up. It was quick. I wasn’t happy with a few other things. It just wasn’t right. This is definitely a better fight. I think it’s an intriguing matchup. Just everything. Everything about it, I like. He’s just as tough, if not tougher [than Gaethje]. He might even be just as tough, if not tougher than Khabib. I was sitting front row at his last fight with (Edson) Barboza and I was like, ‘Fuck, I don’t want to be Barboza right now.’ It was brutal, it was not fun to watch. So, I’m training my ass off. I want to be the one doing that to him, for sure.”
Iaquinta said Lee is ‘bigger and stronger’ since their last fight in 2014 but ‘less mature as a person.’
“He’s definitely bigger and stronger,” Iaquinta said. “More mature as a fighter, probably less mature as a person. He’s polished, he’s seasoned. Now he’s been in there with really tough guys. He was cocky when he came into the UFC, he kind of thought that he was gonna run through everything.”
The Serra-Longo product also claims to have ‘humbled’ Lee and changed his life after handing the NCAA Division II wrestler his first career loss.
“I definitely humbled him there and he changed his life,” Iaquinta said. “He moved to Vegas, he switched camps. I think I’ve been in the guy’s head for a while and he’s been looking forward to this. There’s two kind of ways this goes. He’s definitely put in the work — he’s all in. A guy willing to move to Las Vegas, because he thinks it’s a better team there is definitely serious. He’s coming to put it on me, I know that for sure.”
UFC on FOX: Lee vs. Iaquinta 2 takes place next month, December 15 at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.