Al Iaquinta To Undergo Knee Surgery
Al Laquinta was supposed to fight Gilbert Melendez back at UFC Fight Night 71, but that fight was nixed after Melendez tested positive for a drug test following his with Eddie Alvarez at UFC 188.
Back on June 6th, Laquinta mentioned during his appearance on the MMA Hour that needed to have knee surgery and without a fight coming up, it might be a good time to get it done.
“I had a knee surgery, it was actually right after The Ultimate Fighter,” Iaquinta said. “It never really healed right, and it’s just been getting worse and worse every fight. I’ve just been putting it off, putting it off, and now it’s kind of affecting my left (knee), so I’m compensating for it. I’ve been getting through it, and for a fight like Gilbert Melendez, I was pushing through it. But to go into another fight not at 100-percent, I think I’m just going to get it looked at, get it set up with a good doctor and get it fixed. It’s a sign, I think.”
The injury is a loose cartilage lodged behind Laquinta’s right patella.
“They’ve been telling me to stick it out, stick it out,” Iaquinta acknowledged. “Because you don’t know what’ll have to be done if they do the surgery and how you’ll feel after, if you’ll have a full range of motion. I don’t know. I’ve been battling with this for a while, so I think now is the time I’ve got to get this thing fixed up. I’ve been seeing good doctors, but they’ve got to be able to do something.”
Laquinta mentioned that doctors told him that the surgery would not be career-threatening.
It was confirmed by Ariel Helwani on Wednesday’s episode of UFC Tonight that Al Laquinta will be undergoing knee surgery and is expected to be out six months.
