After going on a four-fight win-streak in the UFC’s most populated division, Al Iaquinta turned down a dream fight at UFC 205.
The New York native had a scrap against former welterweight title challenger Thiago Alves lined up in the promotion’s first-ever event in his home state, but took a stand by refusing to sign the bout agreement.
He appeared on the MMA Hour from an office, donning his realtor’s uniform to explain that his fight career may be over due to a contract dispute.
After being out for 19 months due to injuries, he was absolutely raging to return to the new-Reebok era, especially considering he had signed his deal before that came into effect. The fact that he would only be receiving $26,000 to show for Alves, a further $26,000 if he won and was ineligible for a performance bonus because of a bizarre UFC punishment also contributed to his decision.
New York native Al Iaquinta withdraws from #UFC205, reveals bizarre UFC punishment https://t.co/Owt0tEgRyX
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) September 19, 2016
Despite having not competed since April 2015, Iaquinta is still a ranked 155-er. At the time of writing, he was 15th in the rankings, likely due to the fact that he’s riding a four-fight win-streak, and has had his hand raised in seven of his last eight trips to the Octagon.
Boasting scalps such as Jorge Masvidal, Joe Lauzon and Kevin Lee on his record, Iaquinta may have only been a marquee scalp or two away from getting a crack at the title. However, when we saw images of him dressed as a realtor talking about how he wasn’t going to reach out to the promotion to settle the dispute, there were genuine concerns that we would never see him grace an Octagon again.
Fortunately, it looks like the promotion may have reached out to him.
UFC matchmaker Sean Shelby tweeted a picture of himself posing with the fighter as well as his coaches Matt Serra and Ray Longo along with a caption telling fans to watch out for Iaquinta inside an Octagon soon.
https://twitter.com/seanshelby/status/824884216995328000
Nothing confirmed yet, but this looks promising.
