Al Iaquinta News

Chris Taylor - November 19, 2017

Perennial UFC lightweight contender Al Iaquinta believes “someone should have cold clocked Conor McGregor” at Bellator 187. “The Notorious” had jumped into the cage at Bellator 187 in an attempt to celebrate with teammate Charlie Ward. During the incident McGregor ended up pushing referee Marc Goddard and also slapped a member of the commission.

Tom Taylor - November 16, 2017

It’s now been many months since Al Iaquinta’s thrilling return to the Octagon, in which he thumped Diego Sanchez to a beautiful, first-round knockout. Fans have been eager to see him back in the cage ever since. For a moment, it sounded as though Iaquinta would be returning to the cage for a fight with Paul Felder at UFC 218 this December 2. Regrettably, this scrap fell through just shortly after it was announced.

Jason Kindschy - November 15, 2017

BJPENN Radio returns at 8PM ET/5PM PT with another stacked lineup! 8:15PM ET- Kicking off the show we are joined by former title challenger and possible future UFC champion, “The Bullet” Valentina Schevchenko. Shortly after announcing she would be dropping down to compete in the newly formed women’s flyweight division, Valentina challenged Paige Van Zant to a title-elimination fight. However, Paige declined the matchup and we’re going to discuss the situation with Schevchenko in depth.

Russell Ess - October 31, 2017

Fans that were hoping to see the exciting UFC 218 lightweight matchup between Al Iaquinta and Paul Felder will be let down to hear the news that the bout has been canceled. On Tuesday, MMA Fighting reported that Iaquinta, who is currently ranked no. 11 in the UFC lightweight rankings was removed from the scheduled bout with Felder due to suffering an injury. The report went on to state that Charles Oliveira was looking to be the targeted replacement to face Felder. MMA Junkie later confirmed with multiple sources that Oliveira has stepped in. However, that matchup has not been announced by the UFC yet.

Tom Taylor - September 21, 2017

Ragin’ Al Iaquinta is one of the best lightweights in the world. Unfortunately, his gripes with the UFC have caused him to question his continued fighting career, and he’s been quite inactive over the last few years. Earlier this year, of course, Iaquinta did step back into the Octagon, dazzling with a thunderous first-round knockout of the notoriously durable Diego Sanchez. Since then, however, he has once again been noncommittal on his fighting future.

bjpenndotcom - August 5, 2017

Rap icon Snoop Dogg was rather vocal regarding his affiliation with team Jon Jones leading up to his rematch with Daniel Cormier last month at UFC 214. Back in April, Snoop asked to walk Jon Jones out to the Octagon:

Tom Taylor - June 11, 2017

Over the last few weeks, dangerous UFC lightweight Al Iaquinta has been flirting with the idea of a scrap with welterweight knockout artist “Platinum” Mike Perry. With Perry now scheduled to battle Thiago Alves at UFC 215 this August, however, Iaquinta will have to look elsewhere in the search for his next opponent. Evan Dunham hopes to make Iaquinta’s search an easy one.

bjpenndotcom - June 3, 2017

UFC welterweight Mike Perry, and UFC lightweight Al Iaquinta have continued to trade shots on social media for quite some time. This week, the pair’s beef escalated once again when Perry mentioned Iaquinta in a tweet while calling out Thiago Alves for a welterweight showdown:

Tom Taylor - May 23, 2017

Al Iaquinta is one of the biggest critics of the UFC, and of the way promotion treats its fighters. His status as such is particularly interesting, as he currently under contract with the organization as a member of its lightweight roster. As a member of the UFC roster, Iaquinta was invited to  the UFC’s recent Athletes Retreat in Las Vegas Nevada, and despite his gripes with the promotion, he attended. He did not, however, stay for long. After learning that the promotion had partnered with New York’s Hospital for Special Surgery – the very hospital he asked the UFC to send him to for knee surgery, and the very hospital they refused to send him to for that knee surgery – he decided it was better to leave.

Chris Taylor - May 21, 2017

Al Iaquinta asks fans to say a prayer for Sage Northcutt, turns his focus to a top contender scrap “Raging” Al Iaquinta returned to the octagon after a two-year hiatus last month, putting together a spectacular performance which saw him knockout former division title challenger Diego SanchezUFC Fight Night 108 Results: Al Iaquinta KO’s Diego Sanchez (VIDEO) in the very first-round at UFC Nashville.

Tom Taylor - May 8, 2017

Last month, in the co-main event of the UFC’s latest trip to Nashville, Tennessee, lightweight star Al Iaquinta scored a crushing, one-punch knockout over the durable veteran Diego Sanchez. Earlier the same night, welterweight star “Platinum” Mike authored a 2016 knockout of the year contender, cutting Jake Ellenberger down with a second-round elbow. Since then, Iaquinta has once again shared many criticisms of the UFC, lambasting the promotion for the way it pays and treats its fighters. Perry, meanwhile, has criticized Iaquinta for “complaining a lot,” and even challenged him to a fight at 170 pounds.

bjpenndotcom - May 5, 2017

UFC lightweight Al Iaquinta is once again engaged in a heated standoff with his employers stemming back to his recent 1st round KO win over Diego Sanchez last month. Prior to the fight, Iaquinta had been sidelined for two years while engaged in a dispute with the UFC over his contract. Iaquinta and the UFC brass were at such a standoff that the top ranked lightweight even went as far as to retire and pursue real estate full time. Ultimately, ‘Raging’ Al and the UFC were able to reach an agreement, and the top ranked lightweight was scheduled to fight Diego Sanchez last month. Iaquinta then stepped into the Octagon against Sanchez, where he made a successful return to the Octagon as he handed Sanchez a first round KO.

bjpenndotcom - April 29, 2017

UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping has been competing in the UFC for over ten years now. During that time, Bisping climbed the UFC rankings, before ultimately winning the middleweight championship nearly a year ago. Given his familiarity with the UFC, and experience in dealing with the promotion, Bisping feels as though it isn’t wise for UFC lightweight Al Iaquinta to repeatedly put his employers on blast in the media for not giving him a post-fight bonus for his recent ‘UFC Fight Night: Nashville’ scrap.

Russell Ess - April 27, 2017

UFC lightweight Al Iaquinta made his return to the Octagon at UFC Fight Night 108 last weekend after a short retirement. “Raging” Al made quick work of the tough and always game Diego Sanchez, walking away with a KO win in the first round. Following the win, Iaquinta let out his rage, exclaiming his less than happy feelings for the UFC, UFC President Dana White, and fellow UFC fighters on The MMA Hour and on twitter.

bjpenndotcom - April 27, 2017

Prior to his UFC return this past weekend, where he picked up an impressive first round KO win over Diego Sanchez, UFC lightweight Al Iaquinta was engaged in a very long and very public contract dispute with the UFC. The dispute was so heated that Iaquinta even went as far as to retire from MMA, and pursue a real estate career full-time. Iaquinta and the UFC were ultimately able to reach an agreement, and ‘Raging Al’ returned to the Octagon nearly two years later at ‘UFC Fight Night: Nashville’ this past weekend. Much to his frustration, the UFC didn’t award him with a post-fight bonus despite his spectacular first round KO. This led to Iaquinta putting his bosses on blast in interviews, and on social media.

Tom Taylor - April 26, 2017

Late last year, New York’s Al Iaquinta withdrew from the stacked UFC 205, citing a contract dispute with the UFC. This dispute continued over the coming weeks, until Iaquinta opted to hang up the gloves, and focus on a burgeoning real estate career. Thankfully for Iaquinta fans, this retirement was short-lived. Over the weekend, the New Yorker returned to the cage to become the first man to legitimately knock out Diego Sanchez, putting the veteran down with punches in the first round.

Tom Taylor - April 24, 2017

Though Al Iaquinta made a successful return to the Octagon last weekend, clobbering a durable Diego Sanchez to a first-round KO, the issues that kept him out of the cage for the previous two years are still festering in his mind. Chief among these issues is the way he is treated, and paid by the UFC. On Monday’s episode of The MMA Hour, a fired up Iaquinta explained that he has a particularly difficult time swallowing the UFC’s modest pay of fighters, while the promotion is so hesitant to cover its fighter’s costs when they get hurt. “The UFC has done nothing for me,” he told host Ariel Helwani. “They left me high and dry [when I was injured]. I had to beg them for freakin’ knee surgery. Their doctor said I would never fight again if I had the knee surgery I wanted. Two nights ago I got in the cage.” “They told me I would never fight again if I had the surgery I wanted to have,” he elaborated. “I did all the research. I did. All day, I would wake up in the morning and I was on the computer all day doing research about knees. I could freakin’ do a knee surgery myself at this point. And they told me I would never fight. They wanted to send me out and get stem cell injections, take six weeks out of my life – six months really – and they wanted to try stem cell. I said ‘it’s proven it doesn’t work. Why are we doing this. You’re wasting my time.’ They said ‘well, we want to give it a shot before we pay $60,000 for a surgery.’ $60,000 for a surgery is nothing to you, and you’re going to cry? They only wanted to pay $15,000. A normal surgery at a normal hospital would have cost $15,000, but because I wanted to go to a good hospital, a hospital with a special surgery and the best doctor in the world – I wanted that – they said ‘oh it’s $60,000. We’re gonna pay for the regular [$15,000], you’ve gotta make up the rest.’ I said ‘I can’t make up the rest, are you fucking kidding me? How? How am I going to do that? I was going to say, ‘listen, pay for the surgery and take it out of my next purse when I fight again.’ I couldn’t freakin’ shell out money for a surgery. Go fuck yourself.”

Chris Taylor - April 23, 2017

Pros react to Al Iaquinta’s knockout win over Diego Sanchez UFC lightweight contender Al Iaquinta returned to action at tonight’s UFC Fight Night 108 event in Nashville where he took on seasoned veteran Diego Sanchez.