The Fight Night 63 co-main event was an exciting lightweight tilt between steely veteran Jorge Masvidal and fast-rising youngster Al Iaquinta.
Things started fast and furious, with both men standing and trading. As the fight wore on, however, Masvidal settled down and started to pick Iaquinta apart with his technical striking game, wounding the youngster time and again and bloodying him up badly.
While a victory for Masvidal seemed certain, however, the judges threw everyone a curveball by giving Iaquinta a split-decision win that was ruthlessly panned on Twitter and in the arena.
So what…
Judges are Silly!
There’s no way in hell that Iaquinta won that fight. Second fight tonight that was botched by the judges. #UFCFightNight
— Rob Tatum (@RobTatumMMA) April 4, 2015
Big surprise, right? For the second time of the night, the judges had fans and pundits asking “what fight were those guys even watching?” Iaquinta threw wide time and again while Masvidal used his technical striking to land fadeaway after fadeaway. Alas, the judges saw…something else, I guess.
It’s possible things looked different on the ground floor. In the bleachers and on the couch, however, that decision is indefensible.
Al Iaquinta Has the “It” Factor
In case you missed it, fans lustily booed the judges’ decision. While that is normally met with shrugs and grimaces by fighters and interviewers alike, Iaquinta went wild on the microphone, cussing out the fans in a brief, but entertaining exchange.
Is that ideal? No. But the UFC is desperately short on personality these days and Iaquinta is one of the few fighters that is worth listening to when he finds himself near a microphone.
These moments are going to make fans care about Iaquinta, one way or another. In a crowded lightweight division, that counts for a lot.
Al Iaquinta Isn’t an Elite Lightweight…Yet
While Iaquinta‘s mic skills rank among the best in the UFC, his actual in-cage prowess isn’t quite there yet. While the TUF15 veteran has power, scrappiness and all-around skills, he still needs to polish things up.
Masvidal is a solid, technical boxer but he isn’t unbeatable. Still, Iaquinta found himself coming up short on strikes, and unable to apply his wrestling.
That said, the young New Yorker is advancing at an extraordinary clip, and this win could get him a crack at top-10 competition. Give him a bit more time, and we could easily see him contending for the belt.
Jorge Masvidal is Still a Violent Man
Back in the days when legitimate top-10 fighters often roamed freely outside the UFC, Masvidal was out there knocking out the top dogs of BodogFIGHT, Sengoku and Strikeforce. He had a reputation for violence that eluded most UFC loyalists, and they are just now starting to get a grasp on how scary he is capable of being.
After a back-and-forth sequence in the first round, Masvidal rocked Iaquinta with a punch and threw fearsome ground and pound in the final seconds, slicing him wide open. It was a sequence that showed that the Masvidal of old still lives on, and can still beat the heck out of high-level lightweights
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