Al Iaquinta on Fighting Joe Lauzon at UFC 183: “I Think This is Going to be a Good Fight for Me”
The Ultimate Fighter 15 runner-up Al Iaquinta faces Joe Lauzon on the UFC 183: Silva vs. Diaz main card on Jan. 31 and believes he’s going to have a good showing.
Lauzon is the all-time leader in UFC post-fight bonus awards. He’s earned thirteen since making his promotional debut in 2006. Six of them have been for Fight of the Night. Any fighter matched up against Lauzon gets asked about the possibility of taking home a $50,000 bonus, but Iaquinta isn't focused on a Fight of the Night award.
“Everyone's been saying ‘Fight of the Night, Fight of the Night.' I mean if it gets Fight of the Night that's good, but I don't want the Fight of the Night. That's not what the goal is. The goal is to go in and have a flawless victory, you know, technically superior, dominating your opponent. That's what I'm in there to do,” Iaquinta recently told Submission Radio.
“So if Fight of the Night comes, it's great, but usually the Fight of the Nights, they're kind of sloppy. I think the really, really good fighters, they dismantle their opponent and they win the Fight of the Night bonus by themselves. But I don't know, Joe Lauzon wins a bunch of bonuses, so I think when I beat him they're just gonna give him a bonus anyway. I won't get one, but he'll get one,” added the 27-year-old New Yorker.
Iaquinta likes the stylistic match-up between himself and Lauzon and believes it favors him in every aspect.
“I think I’ve been working real hard. I think everywhere the fight goes I’m going to have an advantage. I think he’s very good on the ground, so definitely you want to be wary there, but again I train with some of the best guys in the world at Serra’s Jiu Jitsu, and if it goes to the ground I think I’m going to have an advantage. Standing up I know I have an advantage, wrestling-wise I know I have an advantage. So I think this is going to be a good fight for me,” he said.
“He definitely has some sneaky submissions, but I don’t think anyone’s seen half of what I can do on the ground, and hopefully this will be a great fight to show it,” Iaquinta added.
Iaquinta and Lauzon are each riding a two-fight winning streak. With a win, Iaquinta hopes to continue to climb the lightweight ladder to bigger bouts and more recognition.
“One step closer to making them all humble, I don't know. There's so many good lightweights out there. I just gotta keep climbing the ladder and get out there, get people seeing me and get a following going. That's how it seems this thing’s going nowadays. You gotta get that following, and then you get your title shot, and then the rest is gravy.”
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