Al Iaquinta beat Myles Jury tonight in a hard fought three round victory. Check back here later today for a full fight recap. Thank you to everyone who watched and supported Al tonight, and a big thank you to everyone who came down to McCanns to represent Iaquinta Nation! Full episode coverage here later today, as well as pictures from McCanns and much more! We said Al would be ready to go to war and he didn’t disappoint. Congratulations to him on a big win.
Photo by UFC
You’ve all been anxiously waiting all week and it’s finally Fight Night. Tonight at 10pm watch Al on a brand new episode of UFC’s TUF Live which will conclude with Iaquinta’s fight against Myles Jury. There’s been a lot of talk about both Myles as well as Al all week. People have discussed backgrounds, records, quality of opponents, and past training. Fight fans have watched videos of both fighters, gotten caught up in the betting odds that Vegas came out with, and watched any fight video out there on both Jury and Iaquinta. People have disrespected Al on messages boards, and even continue to try and find excuses for him winning his fight to get into the house agaisnt Jon Tuck. The fact of the matter is he did win that fight without a doubt and he IS in the house, and now it’s his time to show the entire world who Al Iaquinta is. Continue Reading
Last week I had the opportunity of sitting down with Ray Longo and getting his perspective on Al Iaquinta being on this Season of The Ultimate Fighter. You can check that interview out HERE. This week were going in a different direction from the gym to Al’s home. Last night I had the opportunity to interview Al’s sister Jackie. She was nice enough to sit down and take some time out of her busy schedule and let me ask her some questions. I really appreciate Jackie doing this interview as well as all her great insights. If you think it’s difficult watching Iaquinta’s fight as one of his friends or teammates, imagine how difficult it is watching as a sister. Continue Reading
Photo by UFC
Late last night I saw this article on TUFUFC.com to be honest I considered not posting it at all. For starters it was just reiterating information that most of us all ready knew. Yet the main reason I didn’t post it was because of the disrespect that the article ends with. Since these fights are live for the first time this season now fans have the options of actually putting bets down on each fight. Continue Reading
Photo by UFC
Check out this VIDEO “In his Words: Al Iaquinta” via Ultimate Fighter.com. Al discusses living in the house and his upcoming Fight Friday night with Myles Jury. Check back here later on for preview of Iaquinta/Jury as well as another interview.
A lot of controversy right off the bat to start the show last night. Both teams had a lot to say about Cruz’s choice to let Faber pick who he wanted to fight Lawrence this week. A lot of trash talking ensued from Team Cruz’s guys commenting that no one stood up, and Team Faber’s guys didn’t want to fight. As I talked about HERE of course Faber’s guy’s want to fight but they can’t stand up it’s to early to do that. Al put it very simply ” No one is going to jump out of their seat to fight the number one guy, it’s just not smart.” Faber admitted it was a good move by Cruz and went on to discuss how Cruz get’s on his nerves and he has the urge to punch him in the face.
The most trash talking came from Chris Tickle who seems like he’s going to be a real character on the show. Tickle who the guys on Team Faber have described as obnoxious, continued to call out some of Faber’s guys including Al back at the house. He said none of them wanted to “bang” because no one stood up, and called out Faber for not choosing anyone. Later in the show we see Tickle getting into practice late, making excuses, leaving practice to use the bathroom. Cruz who is frustrated with this talks about how he “needs to encourage him and just deal with him, and get him ready to fight.” Tickle who also started a verbal argument with Cofer during the episode will be very interesting to watch this season.
Leading up to the fight we learn a little bit about this weeks fighters Justin Lawrence and Cristiano Marcello. Lawrence who’s family owns their own gym has been in competition for most of his young life. Lawrence has been wrestling since he was in 3rd grade and fighting since he was six years old. He has 150 amateur fights and is the youngest guy (21) in the house. He feels like he’s “born to fight” and wants to “shock the world.” Cruz talked about how this fight could be a semi final or final fight. He discussed picking this match up to challenge his first team pick Justin Lawrence.
Cristiano Marcello is a jiu-jitsu expert and oposite of Lawrence is the oldest in the house (34). Marcello is a Gracie black belt and has coached guys like Wanderlei Silva and Shogun Rua. Cristiano talked about the edge he had over everyone else in the house being that he wasn’t just fighting for money. He’s fighting for his wife and children. Faber stressed to Marcello that he needed to push the action in the fight and do some dirty boxing. Faber went on to remind him to be sure to keep his chin down on account of Lawrence’s heavy hands. Most importantly he warned him to be aware of the big left hook.
Faber was spot on with his scouting report, because a big left hook by Lawrence ended the fight in the second round. The fight gave us a look at Lawrence’s good hands, as well as some great movement on his feet. Where Lawrence looked comfortable and played his game, Marcello didn’t look as aggressive as many expected. The two stood up the entire fight as Lawrence smartly wanted no part of Marcello’s ground game. Although Marcello looked a bit more aggressive in the second round, he seemed to tire near the end leaving Lawrence in complete control, and putting him in position for the big knock out.
With the Lawrence victory Cruz kept control to pick the next fight setting up a big match up for next week. He chose Myles Jury from his team to fight Al Iaquinta. Hold on to your seats Iaquinta Nation it’s going to be an exciting week with a big LIVE fight next Friday. Be sure to check back here all week for constant updates leading up to the fight!
-Matt Pellicane
Check out a new episode of The Ultimate Fighter TUF Live tonight, 10pm on FX. Find out what Al’s been up to and see if Cristiano Marcello can win his fight against Justin Lawrence and gain control back for Team Faber. Many feel the fight may be one of the best we see all season. Be sure to watch and check back here tomorrow for an episode recap. Everyone enjoy and have a great weekend.
Yesterday I had the pleasure of sitting down with Al’s trainer Ray Longo and asking him some questions about Al and his involvement on this season of The Ultimate Fighter. I appreciate him taking the time out of his busy day to sit with me and answer some questions.
Ray Longo’s resume is an impressive one. He’s a world class boxing, kickboxing and Muay Thai coach who has trained countless fighters both at professional and amateur levels. His lengthy résumé as a trainer includes preparing 9 UFC Fighters for competition including Matt Serra, Nick Serra, Pete Sell, Luke Cummo, Chris Weidman, Costantinos Philippou, Al Iaquinta, George Sotiropoulos, and Rodrigo Gracie. Ray is also one of the few certified Jeetkunedo instructors under Richard Bustillo, Tom Batell and Paul Vunak. Ray founded IMAA (International Martial Arts Academy) in 1990 and continues to train fighters for all different levels of competition.
If your looking to watch the full first episode and see all 16 fights including Al’s to enter the house check it out HERE courtesy of UltimateFighter.com and be sure to tune into FX tomorrow night at 10pm for a brand new episode of TUF LIVE.
Check out this great video from Newsday.com where Al answers a few questions courtesy of Newsday’s Mark La Monica. Very special thank you to him for putting these Q and A’s together with Al. Be sure to follow him on twitter @LaMonicaMark Check out the video HERE!
Iaquinta Nation 