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What Al Laquinta Said About Fighting Khabib In January Is Bloody Brilliant

What Al Laquinta Said About Fighting Khabib In January Is Bloody Brilliant

He now takes on the unbeaten Dagestan fighter at UFC 223.

Nasir Jabbar

Nasir Jabbar

Al Iaquinta went from fighting Paul Felder to Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 223.

While Felder is a dangerous striker, he's no grappling wrecking-machine like the undefeated Dagestan phenom.

Nurmagomedov is 25-0 (9-0 in the UFC) and gunning for UFC gold.

He's rampaged his way to the No.1 contender spot, and will now fight for the lightweight title.

But he won't be opposite Tony Ferguson or Max Holloway.

Nurmagomedov was set to fight Ferguson, though his injury saw UFC draft in the featherweight champion.

He was deemed medically unfit. So, in a dramatic turn of events, UFC booked Nurmagomedov vs. Iaquinta.

Holloway gestures during UFC media day. Image: PA
Holloway gestures during UFC media day. Image: PA
Nurmagomedov faces off with Holloway before his withdrawal. Image: PA
Nurmagomedov faces off with Holloway before his withdrawal. Image: PA

How much is the American earning?

Well, it won't be seven figures which he hilariously demanded in January.

"I can guarantee you [Conor McGregor] is not coming back to fight Khabib Nurmagomedov. Guaranteed. And I don't blame him, I wouldn't either," he said on The MMA Hour.

Iaquinta added: "You'd have to pay me $1 million dollars right now to fight that f--ng guy. I don't want to fight that f----ng guy, did you see what happened to Barboza? Are you f----ng nuts? You want to fight Khabib Nurmagomedov?

"You have to pay me to fight that guy. Now if you paid me I'd go in there and freaking fight him, but, Barboza got paid 70, whatever he got paid. Get the f--k out of here, that's silly, you're nuts. The guy is like, I don't know."

Nurmagomedov mauled Barboza for three straight rounds in his last Octagon outing.

Anyone backing the huge upset? Sound off in the comment section below with your predictions.

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Topics: Khabib Nurmagomedov, Conor Mcgregor, UFC News, UFC

Nasir Jabbar is a journalist at SPORTbible. He graduated from Bath Spa University with a BA in Media Communications. He's a combat sport aficionado, and has contributed to MMA websites AddictedMMA and CagePotato. Nasir has covered some of the biggest fights, while interviewing the likes of Conor McGregor, Michael Bisping and Anthony Joshua. He's also an avid Bristol City fan.

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