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In his second fight in three months once again it was Al Iaquinta scoring a tough and well fought win over Piotr Hallmann Saturday afternoon. After a first round that could have went either way, the second and third rounds Iaquinta clearly started to fall into his groove. During his time on TUF Live Iaquinta once said “the later rounds always belong to me.” He stood strong by those words. As the fight progressed Iaquinta became stronger and more dominant, scoring another Unanimous decision win for his second fight in a row.
Iaquinta (7-2-1) came out and stood toe to toe with his opponent Hallmann during round one. Hallmann showed solid take down defensive throughout the round, stuffing two of Iaquinta’s initial take downs. Both fighters showed impressive striking in a round that was close enough to go either way. Hallmann was able to take Al down with a few seconds left in the first round, giving him what some thought was a slight advantage to end the round.
The second round it seemed like Iaquinta started to fall into his comfort zone. UFC announcer Joe Rogan commented on Iaquinta starting to cut angles and show more head movement in round two. This helped Al capitalize and land a big right hand that clearly hurt Hallmann. Al was able to follow that up with a strong combination of shots that dropped his opponent. It seemed as if Iaquinta may finish the fight, but was very careful to not get caught in a bad spot by the dangerous and durable Hallmann. Piotr recovered but the round belonged to Iaquinta.
Iaquinta came out strong again in round three. Hallmann desperately searched for a takedown but Iaquinta showed his strong wrestling and take down defensive never letting Hallman take him down. Al turned it on late in the third hitting Hallman with some big shots, who began to look beat and tired as the round progressed. The round came to a temporary stop with an unintentional eye poke by Iaquinta. Once Hallmann recovered it was all Iaquinta to end the round, giving Hallmann only his second professional loss and ending a ten fight win streak.
Congratulations to Iaquinta on another well fought victory, making his friends, family, and all of Iaquinta Nation proud of the New York fighter. After the fight Iaquinta asked to fight Anthony Njokuani, the opponent he was originally scheduled to fight. Whoever his next opponent may be Iaquinta continues to make his name in the light weight division with another big win. Back to work for Iaquinta and on to the next challenge.
-Matt Pellicane
Iaquinta Nation 