Al Iaquinta was preparing for a fight in front of his hometown crowd, in Brooklyn, New York, last Friday when he heard Max Holloway was not going to make the UFC 223 headliner.
‘Raging Al’ made a beeline for the hotel lobby and began campaigning for the main event fight against Khabib Nurmagomedov to UFC matchmaker Sean Shelby. He eventually got his wish and, 30 hours later, fought Nurmagomedov for the lightweight title.
He lost on points but gave the Dagestani all he had. Given that both men had shared a unforgettable experience just two days before their fight only added to the insanity of UFC 223 fight week.
Iaquinta was on-board the bus of ‘red corner’ fighters that came under attack in the loading bay of the Barclays Center after the media day for UFC 223. The target of the attack, carried out by Conor McGregor and some of his colleagues, was Khabib Nurmagomedov, who was also on the bus.
“Our freakin’ bus was attacked by Irish terrorists,” Iaquinta declared.
UFC fighters Karolina Kowalkiewicz and Rose Namajunas were also on the bus, as were Michael Chiesa and Ray Borg. Both men were injured when a hand trolley was thrown through the bus window as it tried to reverse away from the barracking posse.
Credit: Anatomy of a Fighter“That was uncalled for,” Iaquinta told The MMA Hour. “That was not cool.”
Iaquinta initially thought the bus had struck someone as it came to a jerking halt but soon realised it was coming under attack from McGregor and a few members of his entourage.
“I hear banging, like BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM. It was too loud to be fans or something like that, so I was like, ‘Holy shit, they’ve run someone over and they’re trying to get the bus to stop’.
“And then, two seconds later, something just comes flying through the window. I was like, ‘Oh shit. We’re getting terrorists or it’s like a school shooting or something like that’. This was like a shooting in Brooklyn.
“And then I saw Conor running around. Everyone was freaking out. That was insane; no-one knew what was going on. Everyone was like, ‘What the heck is this? What are we under attack from?’ And then we see Conor running around and we’re like, ‘Oh, right’. So I whipped out my phone and started filming him.
“He found Khabib and they were just yelling at each other through the bus window. It was uncalled for. Even if it’s just the fighters on the bus – like me, Chiesa and all that – we’re all in the fight game together. But then you’ve got the production guys, the bus driver… these guys don’t want any shit. And then Rose was shaken up. It’s not cool, you know?”
“That must have been some freakin’ plane ride,” Iaquinta added. “I don’t know what they were up to on that flight but I would’ve liked to have been on that one!”
The lightweight got a title shot and his biggest MMA pay-day from the bus attack so he would be forgiven if he looked back on the incident with mixed feelings. You can check out his full interview here:
Iaquinta’s goal in his MMA career is now to get back into the title picture by getting another winning run together.
