Al Iaquinta is no closer to patching things up with the UFC, and has admitted he’s as close as he can be to officially being a former mixed martial artist.
The New Yorker was offered a chance to fight at UFC 205 – the first card in his home state – but declined the bout with Thiago Alves after learning that a bizarre set of rules would drastically limit the amount he could earn from the bout.
Appearing on an MMA Hour roundtable alongside Aljamain Sterling and Gian Villante, he clarified that nothing has changed as regards his relationship with the UFC.
“I’m as close to retirement as you can get. I’m doing other things.
“Nothing’s going to change – I think we need to get paid more.
“We can’t look three fights ahead and think what we’re going to get one day – we gotta fight every fight and we should be getting paid what we deserve.
“You never know, you could be in a fight where you get a serious injury and it could end your career; you can’t fight for less than you deserve.
Iaquinta has begun working in real estate as he takes time out of the Octagon, and all the signs point to him making the situation permanent.
“If I work as hard [at real estate] as I did fighting…then I can make a lot of money,” he said.
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