By: Rich Bergeron
UFC Lightweight Contender “Raging” Al Iaquinta (13-3) is certainly solidifying his nickname these days. From his dismantling of UFC Legend Diego Sanchez last Saturday night to his public disagreements with the most popular MMA league on the planet, Iaquinta is putting it all on the line lately.
Despite the fact that Iaquinta is on a five-fight win streak in the Octagon and has two more fights left on his UFC contract, he told Ariel Helwani in the above interview that it is “probable” he will not be fighting again in the near future.
Iaquinta’s self-imposed hiatus from the UFC has nothing to do with a lack of love for the sport, though. He’s just fed up with the politics and sick of being singled out for speaking his mind about fighter pay and other issues. He covers everything from weight cutting to the Reebok deal and unionization of fighters in the interview with Helwani. He also insists he would enjoy being fully involved in efforts to fix all these issues.
Perhaps the most outrageous and entertaining aspect of the interview is how Al rips UFC President Dana White. Using just as many expletives as “The Baldfather” himself likes to employ when he’s angry, Iaquinta gets most animated about White calling the plane ride home the best part of UFC Brooklyn. Iaquinta goes on to point out that White never had an injury in the sport of MMA and should keep his mouth shut about certain aspects of fighting that he has no clue about.
That part of Iaquinta’s argument sounds almost identical to the sentiment we shared here on Fight News Unlimited over a year ago with our “Open FU” to White. Back then we were criticizing the UFC President for his treatment of Holly Holm and her management team.
Listening to the Helwani interview is all the more entertaining and interesting if you can imagine a fighters’ association with Iaquinta as the president. It would be the best development possible to pay White back for all his own brash, in your face, tell-it-like-it-is ranting over the years. It would be fighting fire with fire, and listening to both of these characters argue with each other would be astronomically better than any of the debates that made up the chaotic 2016 Presidential Election in the United States.
It is highly unlikely that Iaquinta would be able to take on such a prominent role in such an association before his UFC contract officially runs out, though. Still, it is one of the most opportune times in the history of the sport of MMA for fighters to learn how to band together and exercise their solidarity to generate serious change. From the Reebok deal’s flaws to the new UFC owners taking a more insensitive corporate approach to management to the McGregor vs. Mayweather fight purse talks, there are a lot of motivating factors in place right now to force a major development on the union/association front.
And “Uncle Dana” can “go F$%k himself” (as Al Iaquinta might say) if he thinks he can stop that train from rumbling down the tracks. More fighters need to learn from Iaquinta and follow in his f-bombing footsteps if anything is really going to get better in the near future. Whether it involves foul language or not, though, the argument for change needs to generate more commentary from the fighters who are directly experiencing the difficulties of getting by on a typical MMA fighter’s salary. The days of keeping your mouth shut and staying in line to make sure you get the best fights and the best opportunities for extra income are coming to an end. It’s truly time for more shortchanged fighters to knock the silver spoon out of Dana White’s mouth and get to work on improving the status quo by any means necessary.
