UFC lightweight Al Iaquinta has criticized Conor McGregor’s performance against Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 229 earlier this month, stating the Irishman talked a good talk, but he ultimately ‘s—t the bed’ come fight night.
Iaquinta (13-4-1) filled in for Max Holloway on short notice to fight Khabib at UFC 223 in April, going the full five rounds against the Russian but losing a one-sided decision. Before that, ‘Ragin Al’ knocked out Diego Sanchez in the first round after returning to the UFC following a contract dispute with the promotion.
Talking on The Ariel Helwani MMA Show on Monday, Iaquinta gave his take on McGregor’s fourth-round submission loss to Khabib at UFC 229.
“He fought good, definitely has a lot of skills. The rematch is not anything he can fix.” Iaquinta said. “You can train to defend takedowns, you can train to get back up, train for a million things. The one thing you can not train is to have heart when s—t gets real tough.”
McGregor questioned the legitimacy of Khabib’s UFC lightweight title before their fight at UFC 229, playing down the Russian’s fight with Iaquinta as a win over “a number eleven ranked real estate agent.”
“When you feel like you are about to die, to figure out a way to live and not have the ref pull you off and save you. That is not going to get fixed if they fight in six months or a year or three years. That is still going to be there, that is not changing.
“His teammates aren’t going to help him in there and all of that money is not going to buy heart. So he can say whatever he wants, I sell real estate, I am number 11, but at the end of the day, he is definitely not tougher than me.” (Transcription via MMA Mania)
Al Iaquinta will step into the Octagon next to fight Kevin Lee in a rematch at UFC on FOX 31 on December 15th in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.