This week’s interview is with Al’s training partner and friend Marcel Robin. Marcel is a great guy and I consider it a privilege to call him a good friend of mine as well. Marcel, who graduated from East Meadow high school in 2005 has been training with Al for the past six years. He has an interesting perspective not only being a teammate of Al’s but also one of his best friends. I appreciate him taking some time to do this interview and all his great insights. Continue Reading
Photo by UFC
Hey everyone. I wanted to try and get some discussion going and hear who everyone would want to see Al Fight next. Once Sam Sicilia fights Chris Saunders, and Andy Ogle fights Mike Rio the quarter finals will be set. Everyone seems to have some thoughts, even Al himself via his Newsday Interview that he thought he matched up best against James Vick. I’m curious to hear from all of you. Who do you think Al should fight next and why? Possible fight choices from Team Cruz are Justin Lawrence, Vinc Pichel, and James Vick. Other choices pending what happens in their upcoming fights would be Mike Rio and Sam Sicilia as well. Comment below and lets hear what all of Iaquinta Nation has to say.
-Matt Pellicane
This weeks episode gets right back into all the after math after Chris Tickles loss over Joe Proctor. Back in the locker room Coach Cruz is very hard on Tickle following the loss. He is very adamant in telling Tickle about everything he did wrong. He stresses to Tickle that the loss “shouldn’t have happened. If you listen you win the fight.” Cruz went on to discuss that he isn’t here to be on TV he’s here to win. He hate’s loosing, especially to Faber. During one point of the very public conversation between Tickle and Cruz, Faber put in his two cents and tries to offer Tickle some support. He let him know he did good, it was a good fight, and to keep his head up. Cruz get’s angry with Faber for getting involved and the two exchange some heated words back and fourth. Cruz instructs Urijah to mind his own business. Continue Reading
Photo by UFC
Don’t forget to watch Al on a brand new episode of UFC’s TUF Live tonight on FX at 10 PM. Catch up on whats been going on in the house as boredom begins to rise, and tempers begin to heat up. We’re only a few fights away from the start of the quarter finals and having a chance to see Al fight again. The show will conclude with Team Faber’s John Cofer facing off against Team Cruz’s Vince Pichel. This has the makings of being a very good fight. It will be interesting to see if Cofer can get another win for Team Faber as they try to keep the ball rolling after starting the show off 0-2. Make sure you tune in and be sure to check back here later this weekend for an episode recap. Everyone have a great weekend.
Also just another reminder if you haven’t gotten your Iaquinta Nation T-Shirt yet make sure you get in touch with me and pick one up!
-Matt
Photo by UFC
This week I had the pleasure of sitting down with Al’s dad, Jay Iaquinta. Jay is an outstanding football coach a dedicated Physical Education teacher, as well as a great husband and father. While he’s coached at Lynbrook High School as well as SUNY Maritime, he’s spent the past twenty two seasons coaching football for Hewlett high school. In that time Mr. Iaquinta has won the Nassau County Championship in 1999, as well as winning the Big Four Champions 11 of the past 15 years. Jay recently retired after 34 years of teaching physical education at Lynbrook High School. A big thank you to Mr. Iaquinta for taking some time to sit down with me an answer some questions. Continue Reading
Check out Al HERE on his weekly edition of “TUF Talk”. Al talks about training, life in the house, and looks ahead to his upcoming fight in the quarter finals. As always a big thank you to Mark La Monica for putting this together every week. If you have any questions you’d like to hear Al answer make sure you send Mark a message via twitter (@LaMonicaMark) Enjoy and look for a brand new interview here later today!
Here’s a pretty funny exchange between Al and teammate Andy Ogle. There isn’t much set up I can give you you’ll just have to watch for yourself and see Ogle’s adventure learning how to machine wash his pillow case, and Al attempting to understand what the heck he’s talking about. I’m sure that’s very confusing so just watch HERE and you’ll see what I mean. I’d love to see more exchanges like this on the actual show, but saving that time slot at the end for the LIVE fight restricts the TUF Live editors of how much they can show us.
Photo via TUF Twitter
Yesterday Al wrote something very interesting on his twitter which was great, yet simple advice for whatever your career may be. He wrote “ The best days of my life and the worst days of my life have come from this sport. Whatever your dream is pursue it.” Not to get too deep but life isn’t always easy. You may have a goal in mind and encounter some road blocks along the way. If you have a dream, and something you feel passionate about you shouldn’t let anyone stand in your way. Sometimes you have to make sacrifices, which is exactly what Al and everyone else in the TUF house is doing right now. Continue Reading
This weeks episode revolved mostly around the upcoming fight between Joe Proctor and Chris Tickle. If you’ve been watching you knew this episode was going to be an interesting one, mostly because of all the controversy around Chris Tickle. The drama started up very quickly as it became quite clear that Tickle was drunk during the Chiesa, Larsen fight. It was obvious to everyone on both teams the state he was in. Iaquinta went on to comment to Proctor and some other teammates that “Tickle was hammered at the fight tonight, when he wakes up in the morning and finds out he’s going to fight Proctor he’s going to shit himself.” Continue Reading
Make sure you check out Al on a brand new episode of UFC’s TUF Live tonight at 10 PM on FX. Be prepared for a lot of excitement as craziness and boredom has set in at the house, and there’s no telling what Al and the rest of the guys will do. The episode will mostly revolve around Chris Tickle and Joe Proctor as they prepare to fight one another. Everyone’s very curious to see if Tickle will put in a good effort leading up to the fight, or will he make excuses during practice and continue to get under the skin of Coach Cruz. Don’t forget to watch all the excitement tonight, and check here for a recap this weekend!
Also just a reminder to get in touch with me and pick up your Iaquinta Nation T-SHIRTS today!
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