UFC official: Al Iaquinta is on a ‘bonus ban’

According to the UFC, there’s a reason Al Iaquinta didn’t win a performance bonus for his quick win over Diego Sanchez in Nashville - he’s ineligible for them. An unnamed UFC official confirmed to MMA Junkie that Iaquinta was on a three-fight “bonus ban” for his actions back in 2015, before he abruptly retired.

The official also challenged Iaquinta’s recounting of the “beef” between himself and the promotion, insisting that he’s not telling the truth:

“The stories he’s telling are not true. The premise for this whole beef is not accurate, and I think he’s trying to justify the fact that he thinks he should still get bonuses.”

The official, who spoke anonymously due to a lack of authorization from the company to discuss the matter, confirmed that the Sanchez fight was the first fight on his three-bout ban, and named the incidents that caused the ban in the first place. First off, he trashed a hotel room at the MGM Grand after a win over Joe Lauzon; then he swore a few times addressing the crowd after a close win over Jorge Masvidal; and finally, the official claims that he skipped the 2015 UFC fighter summit without letting the promotion know.

The official went into detail about the fighter summit, saying that they had arranged a car and hotel for him and he never showed. Iaquinta has said in the past that he gave the UFC plenty of notice he wasn’t coming, but the official disputed this.

Another issue for the official was that Iaquinta went public about a knee surgery he had while he was out, saying he had major issues with getting the UFC to cover the costs of the procedure. This was disputed by the official as well:

“Mr. Iaquinta never once called the medical team or (UFC President) Dana (White) to say thank you. Instead, he talks about how he had to beg for it, which is not true. … We agreed to do it. We paid for it. The entire medical team assisted through his surgeon getting this done and getting it paid, and Al never once called anyone to thank them. Instead he goes out on the Internet and says he had to beg for it, which is absolutely, 100 percent false. That’s a lie.”

Iaquinta has been very outspoken on Twitter since he was shunned for the bonus, attacking all sorts of fighters and going after Dana White himself. He also dared the UFC to cut him.