Al Iaquinta: Knockout Of Ross Pearson ‘Definitely Played Out In My Head’

After scoring an impressive TKO win over Ross Pearson in last Friday’s (November 7, 2014) UFC Fight Night 55 from the AllPhones Arena in Sydney, Australia, rising UFC lightweight Al Iaquinta is suddenly ready for big things in one of the most crowded divisions in all of MMA.

The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) veteran was the underdog heading into his bout with “The Real Deal,” but that didn’t waver Iaquinta’s confidence one bit. “Raging Al” has the same calm, cool demeanor of his world-famous teammate, UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman.

Although Pearson was supposed to win the fight with his striking, it was Iaquinta who had the most effective stand-up skills. Appearing on today’s (November 10, 2014) The MMA Hour, he touched on how he had envisioned the fight in training:

“It was definitely one of the scenarios that played out in my head. I think about the fight constantly leading up and I’d go through getting beat up for two rounds and having to come back and win…all these different scenarios, and one of them was definitely going out there and just having a flawless performance. You know, not taking too much damage, just sticking and moving, good footwork, doing everything that we game-planned and went over in practice.”

Iaquinta did put on a nearly flawless performance, one that he was surprised to not have earned a post-fight bonus on a card that saw all 11 of its bout end by finish. Iaquinta believed he would have had an extra $50,000 on any other card:

“Yeah, I was pretty pissed man. I think any other card, a fight like that, coming in and being the underdog, getting a win the way I got it…but, it is what it is, you know?”

Now Iaquinta should head for another big name bout on his quest to crack the stacked 155-pounnd Top 15 rankings. Team Serra-Longo is absolutely on fire right now, and Iaquinta hasn’t really even had to utilize his dangerous wrestling background in the octagon.

Will he join Weidman and Serra in the exclusive club of UFC champs from Long Island?

Photo Credit: Joe Camporeale for USA TODAY Sports