Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Al Iaquinta takes exception with Justin Gaethje’s suggestion that he is a step-below his fellow lightweight elite.
Al Iaquinta wants to make it clear that he is no pushover inside the Octagon or at the negotiations table. The longtime Serra-Longo fighter and Justin Gaethje were once linked to fight each other. That bout never materialized and both fighters moved on to marquee bookings with other members of the lightweight elite.
However, in the build up to UFC Vancouver, Gaethje took a jab at Iaquinta and Paul Felder. “We’re the best in the world right now,” Gaethje told MMA Fighting when discussing Conor McGregor’s eventual UFC return. “Nobody is getting out of there easy in the top five or top 10 unless you’re fighting Al [Iaquinta] or f—king [Paul] Felder. That’s your only way out.” Gaethje refused to elaborate on those comments when subsequently asked at the UFC Vancouver open workouts.
“I don’t think I’m an easy fight on any day,” Iaquinta retorted in an exclusive interview with Bloody Elbow. “We were supposed to fight and I told the UFC what was a reasonable number to fight him.” Iaquinta went on to suggest that the offer was not to his liking.
“They offered me that fight a couple weeks after I fought Khabib. It wasn’t too far after. I still had a messed up shoulder,” Iaquinta recalled. “They were struggling to find somebody for a main event. I said, ‘You want me to hop in there so quick, I’m just getting over an injury, I had PRP injections, don’t give me that s—t.’ Anybody that knows me and anyone that knows the sport knows that I’ll fight anybody, but I’m no pushover. I will get what I’m worth. That’s his whole problem.”
“Listen, Justin Gaethje is a tough fighter and I respect him tremendously. I would love to fight him,” he asserted. “You saw what he did to his last three opponents. He’s a tough fighter. I’m not getting ripped off to fight him. It seems like he’ll fight anybody for any amount of money. I win this fight [against Dan Hooker] and we’ll see what happens. It’s a fight that definitely has to happen at some point.”
Iaquinta also discussed his upcoming fight with fellow ranked lightweight Hooker at UFC 243. “He’s got a few positions where he is very dangerous. He has some tricky knees, he has some good chokes. He’s tough, but I think I can get to him. We’re both tough. People think of ‘tough’ when they think of me, but I’m definitely way better than I am tough,” the Long Island native said. “This is my life’s work, I’ve been doing this since I was wrestling in seventh grade. I don’t know what he was doing in seventh grade.”
UFC 243 is headlined by a middleweight title unification bout between champion Robert Whittaker and interim champion Israel Adesanya. The event takes place at Marvel Stadium in Melbourne, Australia on Saturday, Oct. 5.
Below are timestamps for the video above.
0:04 – Adjusting to Australia’s timezone
1:08 – Reflecting on Donald Cerrone loss at UFC Ottawa
3:45 – Fighting in enemy territory
5:45 – Where Dan Hooker is most dangerous
6:55 – Reacting to the BMF belt
7:58 – Why is it every lightweight respects Tony Ferguson title shot?
8:40 – Advice for contract negotiations
9:20 – Reacting to Justin Gaethje diss
12:05 – UFC 243 prediction
12:30 – That time Al pranked this reporter