The UFC veteran and former ROC champion Al Iaquinta is planning to retire from combat sports. The lightweight fighter shared his thought on his podcast ‘Call Me Al Show’ saying he has gotten enough when being asked about getting in the octagon again.
Al Iaquinta suffered three consecutive losses in the UFC and considering leaving on his own. When being asked about his career in MMA, the 34-year-old fighter said he will no longer be fighting.
“Fighting again? I’m thinking that’s it, man, I’m thinking that’s it.” Iaquinta said in his podcast.
The reason is that Iaquinta doesn’t think it’s still worth it for him to get into the octagon and clash against the opponent. He also took an example of the recent lightweight bout between Justin Gaethje and Michael Chandler.
“That’s the way to go out, obviously, you want to go out on a win, but this sh*t’s not worth it, dude. You saw Michael Chandler and Justin Gaethje fight. Those guys, they beat the hell out of each other. That wasn’t worth it.” Iaquinta said.
Al Iaquinta’s latest fight was against Bobby Green as one of UFC 268 cards and he lost via TKO in the first round. Iaquinta revealed during his fight against Bobby Green, he gave up and just doesn’t care anymore.
“To be honest with you, I don’t know. It was the first fight that I really gave up in. He didn’t knock me unconscious, and I kind of turned and I covered up. I was still conscious; I knew what I was doing. But I kind of just wanted out. That was it. I realized that he hit me hard. It probably was not going to be a good night for me. I was not confident in my preparation, in my cardio, my wrestling.” Iaquinta said.
Iaquinta insecurely compared himself with other professional fighters who train hard more than once a day, unlike him who couldn’t do such hard training.
“These guys are training hard. These guys are training three times a day, two times a day, really hard. My body just can’t hold up to that anymore. That’s the first time in my career ever that I gave up in a fight.”
Al Iaquinta retires on the @CallMeAlShow: pic.twitter.com/iK0wGsrOtc
— Erik (@UebeMMA) November 19, 2021
Iaquinta started his professional MMA career in 2009 and joined the UFC in 2012. He has a total score consisting of 14 wins and 7 losses. Iaquinta has more interest in his new career in real estate and thinks using his popularity he can sell properties more easily.