AL IAQUINTA NAMECHEKED Conor McGregor as a potential next opponent after overcoming Kevin Lee in a unanimous decision victory at UFC on Fox 31 on Saturday night.
The lightweight bout saw the 31-year-old rally after an impressive opening start from Lee, with the judges scoring the fight 48-47, 48-47 and a 49-46 in the New Yorker’s favour in Milwaukee.
Iaquinta took advantage of Lee expending much energy in the opening pair of rounds locking his opponent and landing successive elbows, “Raging Al” prevailing with a late flurry of punches in the final 10 minutes to deliver the biggest win of his career to date.
Saturday saw him make a successful return following a decision defeat to Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 223, extending his record to 14-1-1.
“With the right preparation, the right fight, I could beat anyone in this division,” Iaquinta said speaking afterwards last night.
When asked about his next bout, he called out McGregor, with Iaquinta insisting that in order to have another chance to meet Nurmagomedov the Dubliner would need to overcome him first.
“If Conor wants a rematch against Khabib, he’s gotta go through me first,” said Iaquinta. “He tapped out.”
Nurmagomedov defeated McGregor in October, with the reigning undisputed UFC Lightweight Champion congratulating Iaquinta after his impressive win against Lee.
“I know how strong you are, that’s why I was waiting for your fight,” the Russian tweeted.
Murray Kinsella, Gavan Casey and Eddie O’Sullivan preview another big weekend of Heineken Cup action and dissect the week’s main talking points.
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