UFC competitor Al Iaquinta has been rather disgruntled with the UFC as of late. The fighter has been momentarily banned from any fight bonuses and Iaquinta is not happy about it. In a recent interview with MMA Junkie, an undisclosed UFC official explained that things may not be as they seem.
“The stories he’s telling are not true.” The UFC official stated, as he asked to remain anonymous. “The premise for his whole beef is not accurate, and I think he’s trying to justify the fact that he thinks he should still get bonuses.”
Iaquinta is currently suffering from the first of three fights from which he is banned to receive a bonus for. The penalty is due to three separate incidents. The fighter destroyed a room in the MGM Grand, right after UFC 183. Then, the fighter cursed on national television after defeating Jorge Masvidal. Finally, the fighter never appeared for a 2015 UFC fighter summit.
“His story about the summit, the part that he left out was that he never called us to tell us he didn’t get on the plane. He never called us to tell us not to send a car to the airport to pick him up. We had all these arrangements for the hotel. All these things were arranged, and he never bothered to call us to tell us he wasn’t coming, which I think would make anyone mad.
“We sent a car to the airport to pick him up, and he wasn’t there. He never called us to say, ‘I’m not coming.’ Not calling us, not telling us that he wasn’t going to show up, having to send a car to the airport to pick him up, literally, and him not being there – how immature is that? To not call and say, ‘I didn’t make the flight. I’m not coming.’ It’s immature.” the official said.
Al Iaquinta was suffering from a knee injury at the time, perhaps leading to the issue with the summit. Iaquinta claimed that the UFC almost didn’t cover his surgery costs.
“It was a chronic injury, and since it was a chronic injury and not something that happened while training or fighting for us, the insurance denied it. There were also a number of alternatives that could have been done, but Al insisted on using a specific surgeon back east. The UFC paid tens of thousands of dollars to cover that out of our pocket without any obligation to do so since it was a chronic injury, which means it happened over years and years and years.
“Mr. Iaquinta never once called the medical team or (UFC President) Dana (White) to say thank you. Instead, he talks about how he had to beg for it, which is not true. … We agreed to do it. We paid for it. The entire medical team assisted through his surgeon getting this done and getting it paid, and Al never once called anyone to thank them. Instead he goes out on the Internet and says he had to beg for it, which is absolutely, 100 percent false. That’s a lie.”
