Al Iaquinta On Conor McGregor’s Loss To Khabib: ‘He Tapped A Little Quick’
Al Iaquinta knows what it’s like to go the distance with Khabib Nurmagomedov and he’s given his opinion on how Conor McGregor faired against the Russian a few weeks ago at UFC 229.
Iaquinta stepped in on less than 24-hours to face Nurmagomedov in April and went the full 25-minutes with the Russian before losing via a unanimous decision. McGregor, who lost via submission in the fourth round to Nurmagomedov earlier this month, earlier today released his breakdown of the fight but failed to mention a moment at the end of the third round where he was heard saying to the UFC lightweight champion “It’s just business.”
After all of the Irishman’s pre-fight talk, Iaquinta told Ariel Helwani this past week on “The MMA Show” that he didn’t think much of McGregor’s response to adversity after the third round had ended.
“I thought Conor fought really well, I thought he fought a great fight up until the end of the third round,” Iaquinta said. “At the end of the third round they pulled up the audio and he was just like ‘It’s just business.’
“After all the s*** he talked and all the nonsense ‘It’s just business’ kinda like ‘Take it easy one me,’ basically like ‘I’m checked out.’ It sounded like he wanted out you know, it sounded like he was waving the white flag.”
Iaquinta then recalled a similar situation that occurred during his fight with Nurmagomedov back in April.
“All the talk and all the nonsense kinda went out the window and at the end of the third round of my fight I couldn’t even help myself, we got up after us being in the same position and I pushed him, like get the f*** outta my way,” he continued. “I was almost like ‘Oh s*** that was unsportsmanlike’ but I was like you know, whatever that’s just my attitude. There’s no giving up. Especially after talking all that s***. You just got to go out on your shield. You got to defend that choke. I think I defended that choke.
“He looked great, though he looked strong and he got up off the mat a lot of times. Where was all the talk … you know, our fight could still be going on. No one finished anybody. I’m not saying I deserve an immediate rematch by any means, but if anyone deserves a rematch against Khabib it’s not Conor.”
McGregor tapping out to Nurmagomedov’s neck crank was the fourth submission loss of his career. Iaquinta believes the Irishman gave up a little too early when the hold was applied.
“He had more than enough time to prepare for that and he knew what he was getting himself into,” Iaquinta later continued. “He tapped a little quick.”
“I think it said a lot about everything. That’s just him; you look flashy and you look great, but when you get a little tired and things aren’t going your way, you check out.”
Watch the full interview with Iaquinta below:
