Al Iaquinta: Justin Gaethje ‘Just Technical Enough’ To Get His A** Kicked

Top-ranked UFC lightweight Al Iaquinta is set for one of the biggest fights of his career when he meets Donald Cerrone in the main event of tomorrow’s (Sat., May 4, 2019) UFC on ESPN+ 9 from the Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

It’s a huge fight that should propel the winner close to title contention in the stacked UFC lightweight division. But that won’t stop Iaquinta from clapping back at one of his previously scheduled opponents. Iaquinta was set to face Justin Gaethje in the main event of last August’s UFC Lincoln, only to see the fight fall apart.

Since then, ‘The Highlight’ has accused Iaquinta of being “afraid” of him. Gaethje has also scored two first-round knockouts in his last two appearances. Not surprisingly, Iaquinta responded to Gaethje during yesterday’s UFC Ottawa media day via MMA Junkie, where he declared that simply wasn’t true. What he’s more afraid of, he claims, is not earning what he’s worth:

“I’m definitely not scared of anybody. I’m more scared of not fighting for my worth, like some of these guys are doing, I’m scared of not managing myself the right way, but definitely not scared of fighting anybody.”

Iaquinta Doubts Gaethje’s Technical Skills

To that effect, ‘Ragin’ Al’ definitely isn’t afraid of fighting anyone. He took on champion Khabib Nurmagomedov on a day’s notice at last April’s UFC 223. His fear of not getting paid his worth is a true statement as well. Iaquinta’s discord with the UFC is seemingly in the rearview mirror as of now, but he was at odds with his employers over money for quite some time.

So if a fight with Gaethje is offered, it would have to be for the right price. And if Iaquinta takes it, he believes ‘The Highlight’ simply isn’t technical enough. He claimed Gaethje only beat Edson Barboza in March by poking him in the eye. It wasn’t a technical battle at all in Iaquinta’s eyes. If Gaethje were to fight him like that, he said he would only be technical enough to lose:

“He poked (Edson) Barboza in the eye (at UFC on ESPN 2 in March), no one ever said anything about that,” Iaquinta said. “He poked him right in the eye, he thinks – put a technical battle – he better come crazy. This technical stuff, he’ll be just technical enough to get his ass kicked, for sure.”