Al Iaquinta questions Conor McGregor over loss to Khabib Nurmagomedov: ‘What’s your excuse?’

By Chris Taylor - January 12, 2019

Earlier this week former two-division champion Conor McGregor and perennial lightweight contender Al Iaquinta exchanged pleasantries on social media.

Conor McGregor, Khabib Nurmagomedov, Joe Rogan

The pairs spat on Twitter occurred shortly after the Irish superstar had ripped Tristar head coach Firas Zahabi for insinuating the Max Holloway could beat him in a rematch.

“Hey Firas. Young man afraid to get in and fight, himself. Stop talking about me like you know me, you twerp. You are what age? Why are not in there yourself? Are you not up to it? You rent dorms and hit a clock for a living. Shut your pie, kid.”

It was at that point that Al Iaquinta decided to chime in on the situation, teasing McGregor to ‘roast him next’.

The brash Irishamn obliged “Raging Al’s” request by replying with the following photo.

Iaquinta wasn’t overly impressed by McGregor’s comeback and recently spoke about his exchange with “Mystic Mac” during a recent interview with MMAJunkie:

“It’s not, ‘Who the fook is that guy?’ That’s what I was hoping for.” said Al Iaquinta.

McGregor and Iaquinta are the two most recent men to challenge current undefeated lightweight title holder Khabib Nurmagomedov.

“Raging Al” suffered a unanimous decision loss to “The Eagle” at UFC 223, while Conor McGregor suffered a fourth-round submission loss to the Russian at UFC 229.

Al Iaquinta

Image: UFC on Instagram

It is considered by many that Al Iaquinta performed better against Khabib when compared to Conor McGregor.

“Raging Al” touched on that subject with the following statement.

“I took a five-round fight on a three-round camp, and I went the distance,” he said. “What’s his excuse? He looked way more tired in the third than I was in the fifth, and I didn’t train for five. That says a lot.”

Al Iaquinta admitted that he started out as a fan of Conor McGregor, but some of the Irishman’s recent antics have caused his opinion to change.

“I was a big fan, but I think he’s getting a little out of control now,” Iaquinta said. “I thought he was the guy that would kind of do what he did but stay true to the martial arts. It seemed like, in the beginning, he was really kind of like the martial way, do the right thing, respect your fellow competitors, ‘we’re all in this’ kind of thing. His goal set out to be the best, and now that he is the best and he’s got a lot of money. I just think he’s a little out of control.”

Al Iaquinta has gone 6-1 over his past seven octagon appearances. In his most recent effort at Milwaukee, Iaquinta dispatched Kevin Lee for the second time in his career via unanimous decision.

Do you think we could see a future fight between Al Iaquinta and Conor McGregor? Sound off in the comments section PENN Nation!


Topics:

Al Iaquinta Conor McGregor Khabib Nurmagomedov UFC