Dana White Addresses Possible Al Iaquinta vs. Justin Gaethje Fight

UFC President Dana White has given his take on a potential Al Iaquinta vs. Justin Gaethje fight.

Both fighters have talked about the potential showdown inside of the Octagon under the UFC banner, and that has led to fight fans around the world talking about the possibility as it would likely be one heck of a fight. However, the UFC boss is not very high on the fight.

During a recent appearance on the UFC Unfiltered podcast, White went on record by stating that doesn’t think the fight will be taking place any time soon.

As for the reasoning behind his mindset? It’s simple, White put the blame on Iaquinta due to him wanting a new deal to fight the fan favorite.

If you recall, Iaquinta stated before his last fight that he got a new deal with the UFC. According to White, Iaquinta wants another deal in order to take on Gaethje.

“Yeah that’s a fun fight, but it isn’t going to happen,” White said (transcript courtesy of MMANytt). “Iaquinta is absolutely 100-percent out of that fight.”

“He believes that I’m pretty sure we just did a new deal with Al Iaquinta and he just got a good pay day against Khabib and he feels like, he has a deal, let me reiterate he has a deal,” White said.

“He feels like if he moves up and fights guys higher ranked than him that he should be paid a lot more money. He feels that if he fights guys that a lower ranked than him, then he should make a lot less money.”

Once Tony Ferguson pulled out of his lightweight title fight against Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 223 due to an injury and UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway wasn’t able to make weight on short-notice, they got Iaquinta to step in on 24 hours notice and fight Nurmagomedov.

Khabib ended up winning the fight along with the undisputed UFC lightweight title.