Long Island's Al Iaquinta To Fight In UFC 223 Main Event

Long Island resident and Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) fighter “Raging” Al Iaquinta was announced on Friday as the last-minute replacement to headline UFC 223 after a tumultuous 24 hours in the world of mixed martial arts.

Iaquinta, a Wantagh resident and UFC’s No. 10 ranked lightweight, will fight No. 2 ranked Khabib Nurmagomedov at Barclays Center in Brooklyn on Saturday night.

MMA Fighting journalist Ariel Helwani called these series of events that led to Iaquinta fighting Nurmagomedov “without a doubt the craziest five days in UFC history” on Twitter.

Here’s a timeline of how things went down:

• Nurmagomedov was originally supposed to fight No. 1 Tony Ferguson for the lightweight belt, but Ferguson suffered a knee injury and was replaced by UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway with six days notice. Holloway, however, was pulled from the card after he could not safely make weight on Thursday, reports ESPN.
• Numerous fighters campaigned to replace Holloway, including No. 13 Anthony Pettis. Pettis' fight with Michael Chiesa was called off after Conor McGregor went on a rampage and threw a metal dolley through a bus packed with UFC fighters, injuring Chiesa and making him unfit to fight.
• Iaquinta’s original opponent Paul Felder, who is unranked in the UFC, also campaigned to replace Holloway.
• Both Pettis and Felder’s bids were rejected, making Iaquinta next in line for the coveted spot, according to UFC on Fox’s Karyn Bryant.
• Meanwhile, a court hearing was held for McGregor on Friday, who faces assault and criminal mischief charges. His bail was set at $50,000 and he is due back in court on June 14, MMA Fighting reports.

Iaquinta missed championship weight by 0.2 and was not allowed to weigh-in again, so he will not win the belt if he defeats Nurmagomedov in the five-round fight. Nurmagomedov, however, will have the opportunity to be named UFC Lightweight Champion if he defeats Iaquinta, Helwani reports.

Iaquinta, 30, wrestled for both Wantagh High School and Nassau Community College before he became a professional MMA fighter. He is on a five-fight win streak and also works as a real estate agent on Long Island.

Iaquinta has been extremely outspoken about how UFC should pay their fighters more and has gone on numerous "raging" Twitter rants insulting UFC President Dana White. He has also threatened to retire several times due to contract disputes. Iaquinta, however, recently received a new contract that is worth around “three times” more than his previous one, ESPN reports.

On Thursday, Iaquinta was the only fighter to not have his own banner on media day. Now, he’s headlining the event. Nurmagomedov is the heavy favorite.

A few months ago, Iaquinta said he would need to be paid $1 to 2 million to agree to fight Nurmagomedov. "I don't want to fight that f---ing guy," he said on the MMA Hour.