Al Iaquinta hit Joe Lauzon over and over. And then he hit the bottle.
Iaquinta got drunk after his UFC 183 win over Lauzon on Jan. 31, sneaking into a back area of the MGM Grand and stealing booze that he took to the press conference, Iaquinta told Ariel Helwani on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour. Iaquinta said he was sipping vodka and soda out of a Big Gulp cup on the dais.
“I was hammered, bro,” Iaquinta said. … “Conor McGregor gets like a $75 million glass of freakin’ whatever the hell he gets. I had to sneak in the back and steal some vodka.”
Iaquinta proceeded to put on one of the most hilarious UFC press conference performances in recent memory, mentioning something about going down to Mexico and that the senoritas will love him. Then, he trashed his hotel room, throwing a mini-refrigerator and turning over a room service cart, scenes that were all captured on video and mistakenly posted on Instagram.
“That wasn’t good,” Iaquinta said. “That was bad. I [mistook] my Snapchat for my Instagram. That’s what must have happened. The videos got out there.
“I was wrecking that hotel, man.”
Iaquinta (11-3-1) initially said it was because he was mad he didn’t get a fight-night bonus after knocking out Lauzon in the second round. But really, it was just celebratory. He hopes to get some kind of discretionary bonus from the UFC around the same time the MGM sends him a bill for destroying the room.
“We can just call it even,” the Long Island native said.
Iaquinta, 27, has certainly come out of his shell lately. Along with three straight knockout victories, the Serra-Longo product has shown a different side of himself. Iaquinta even started a Spanish-speaking Twitter account for himself after the Mexico line at the press conference. Iaquinta said he went to Monterrey, Mexico when he was an 18-year-old amateur, knocked his opponent out and the fans began chanting “Alejandro!”
“It was crazy, man,” Iaquinta said. “They loved me. They were sending me Coronas on tap.”
“Raging Al” has parlayed his recent success into a big fight against Jorge Masvidal at UFC Fight Night: Mendes vs. Lamas on April 4 in Fairfax, Va. A winner would venture closer to a lightweight title shot. But Masvidal isn’t pleased about the opposition. He was supposed to take on former champion Benson Henderson, but Henderson was pulled to fill a hole in the UFC Fight Night 60 main event last weekend.
“I don’t have the big name that he’s looking for, but I think I’m just as tough a fight,” Iaquinta said. “So it’s probably not a great fight for him. He’s on the money.”
Iaquinta said we’ve just gotten the tip of the iceberg of his personality and if everything was public he’d “get kicked out of the UFC so quick.”
Which makes one wonder: What will happen if he beats Masvidal? Will it be just like the aftermath of the Lauzon fight The D.C. metro area beware if Iaquinta leaves the Patriot Center victorious.
“That’s the best time to wreck something,” Iaquinta said. “I just won. Go crazy.”