Al Iaquinta Insists He’ll Take Khabib Nurmagomedov’s 0 if he Has Full Camp to Prepare

Al Iaquinta came up short the first time he battled Khabib Nurmagomedov last year. But “Raging Al” insists things will be different, if he faces the undefeated fighter having had a full camp to prepare.

Iaquinta was shuffled into a five round, title fight with Nurmagomedov last April at UFC 223, after Max Holloway was pulled from the headliner on short notice. Iaquinta was booked to face Paul Felder at the event, and the UFC ended up tapping him for the championship bout. The rugged lightweight showed a ton of heart and toughness in the scrap. But, Nurmagomedov went on to win the fight via unanimous decision.

Well, fast forward to today, and Iaquinta is coming off a win over Kevin Lee, and he’s set to face Donald Cerrone at UFC Ottawa, May 4th. Chances are a win over Cerrone won’t deliver Iaquinta a title shot. But, the outspoken fighter is still making the case for why a rematch with Khabib would go differently.

While talking with BJ Penn.com Radio recently, Iaquinta had this to say about how a rematch with Khabib would unfold, provided he had a full camp to prepare for the champ (quote via Bloody Elbow):

“I beat him,” Iaquinta said. “Not just like try to land a punch, you know? I’d go out there and I’d wrestle. I’d really just go for it more. I feel like I was a little reserved. The five rounds, I had never even really gone five rounds, trained for five rounds, so that was in the back of my head.

“I didn’t really want to exert myself like crazy because I had been sparring three rounds, and at the end of the three rounds I was getting pretty exhausted,” he added. “It was uncharted territory. Now, five rounds is to my advantage. The longer the fight goes, the better it is for me. I think that it’ll be an advantage now rather than, being five rounds that fight [with Nurmagomedov], it was a little bit of a disadvantage.”

Of course, it’s certainly true that Iaquinta had been prepared to fight three rounds, and not five. Further, he was set to face a striker in Felder, rather than an awe-inspiring grappler like Khabib. So, one would think that a rematch would be more competitive. That said, Nurmagomedov was also prepared to face a different style of opponent (initially he was supposed to fight Tony Ferguson).

First things first, and Iaquinta needs to get by Mr. Cerrone.