It wasn’t a definitive retirement announcement, but a dejected Al Iaquinta made it clear Thursday night that hanging up his gloves for good has weighed heavily on his mind since UFC 268.
He suffered a first-round TKO against Bobby Green on Nov. 6 for his third consecutive loss. Iaquinta also revealed on his “Call Me Al Show” that he at least partially tore his ACL during the fight.
“Fighting again? I’m thinking that’s it, man. I’m thinking that’s it,” Iaquinta said. “That’s the way to go out. Obviously you want to go out on a win, but this sh*t’s not worth it. You saw Michael Chandler and Justin Gaethje fight (at UFC 268). 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,” Iaquinta said. “He didn’t knock me unconscious. I turned, and I covered up. I was still conscious, I knew what I was doing, but I kind of just wanted out. I realized he hit me hard, and it probably wasn’t gonna be a good night for me. I was not confident in my preparation.”
“It’s the first time in my career ever that I gave up in a fight. I used to watch people do that all the time, and I could never understand it. But at this point, it’s not life-changing money for me to go in there. When you’re younger, injuries happen and you heal. I’m 34 years old. You go in there, you get an injury, there’s a good shot it’s never gonna heal. Doctors, I used to think you get surgery, and they fix it. Doctors can fix anything. I don’t ever want to have surgery again.”
It’s not just his in-fight thoughts that have Iaquinta contemplating retirement, but also his approach leading into it.
“This is the first time in my career I was leading up to it thinking, ‘I just don’t want to get hurt,’” Iaquinta said. “You can’t have that attitude going into it. You’ve got to be a savage motherf*cker to really get in that cage. The mindset you’ve got to have is, ‘I don’t give a sh*t about my body.’ Back in the day, I could’ve broken my nose, anything, and I would’ve kept going. Now? Eh, I live in a nice house, I got investment properties, (the UFC) is not paying me enough to sacrifice my body for the rest of my life. That’s the way I kind of feel about it.”
“I start feeling good? I don’t know. You know what I mean? I might get that itch,” Iaquinta said. “I can’t even watch my teammates. I don’t even want to go to the gym right now. I’m just like, so, like, I don’t know if I’m jealous of them being able to do that, being able to train hard. That’s where I feel the most at home, and I don’t know if it’s gonna happen anytime soon for me.”
