Al Iaquinta responds to Dan Hooker’s ducking accusations

By Tom Taylor - August 1, 2019

New Zealand’s Dan Hooker recently campaigned for a fight with Al Iaquinta, suggesting the meeting occur at UFC 243 in Melbourne, Australia, but ultimately moved on and accused Iaquinta of ducking him.

Al Iaquinta, UFC 243

“He keeps saying he wants it; I said that’s the fight to make,” Hooker told MMA Junkie recently. “If I’m lying, the fight would be booked already.

“(Iaquinta is) not taking the fight; I’ll fight (Alexander) Hernandez.”

Speaking on MMA Junkie Radio on Thursday, Al Iaquinta responded to this claim from Hooker. He’s offering a different version of the story.

“The fight was never offered to me,” he said. “In fact, I was the one that offered it to Dan Hooker. And when Dan Hooker started talking all of his nonsense on Twitter, I was the one that offered the fight to the UFC. First, UFC — [the] matchmakers, higher-ups — they were under the impression that I wanted to fight somewhere else. But I love Australia. I’ve fought there before, and I loved it so much that I went back a second time and I taught seminars all along the East Coast of Australia. I would like to say, I’m pretty freakin’ Australian for an American.

“He did kind of throw the [matchup] out first,” Iaquinta continued. “He said my name after his fight [with James Vick], he had a great fight, big knockout win, and I think that’s the only reason I’m even entertaining this as a fight, because he did perform so well in his fight. He looked great. He’s a tough guy. I think he has a lot more skills than his rank [suggests] in the lightweight division. I don’t know what he’s ranked right now, but I’d say he’s up there. He’s a tough fight, and it would be in Australia. He might not even know how much the Australian people love me, and being from New Zealand I don’t know how they feel about him.

“I think it has all the makings to be a great fight,” he concluded. “I’m the one waiting for the call now. He’s the one saying that the UFC is telling him that I turned down the fight, but I was never offered the fight. In fact, I offered them the fight. Nobody came to me about it, I was the one that reached out to the UFC.”

Needless to say, Al Iaquinta seems to be up for the matchup — contrary to the impression Hooker is under.

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 8/1/2019.


Topics:

Al Iaquinta Dan Hooker UFC