Al Iaquinta may have called it a day.
Iaquinta is coming off a first-round TKO defeat to Bobby Green at UFC 268 earlier this month. It was the first time Iaquinta had been finished by strikes in his mixed martial arts career.
It also made it three straight losses for the New York native who believes it might be time for him to hang up his gloves.
“Fighting again? I’m thinking that’s it, man… Yeah, that’s the way to go out,” he said on his “Call Me Al” podcast. “I mean, 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.
“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: My Body Can’t Hold Up Anymore
Iaquinta has been in some wars recently and taken a fair bit of damage along the way.
And despite being 34 years of age, he simply feels his body can’t keep up anymore compared to other fighters who are still able to train multiple times a day.
“These guys are training hard. These guys are training three times a day, two times a day, really hard,” Iaquinta added. “My body just can’t hold up to that any more. 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 Uebelacker (@Uebey) November 19, 2021
If Iaquinta does indeed retire, he would do so as one of the most memorable personalities in recent history. Iaquinta was known for his interviews and never being shy to let his opinion be known — even to UFC president Dana White.
He notably challenged for the vacant lightweight title against Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 223 back in 2018. He suffered a unanimous decision defeat, but was praised for his performance after accepting the fight on short notice the night before.
He holds a 14-7-1 record with notable wins over Kevin Lee (x2), Diego Sanchez, Jorge Masvidal, Joe Lauzon and Ross Pearson.
