Al Iaquinta

The top-15 in the UFC, anyone can beat anyone. It's just style matchups and who shows up on a particular day.

I used to think you go in, get surgery, and get fixed, and you're good. Doesn't always work like that. It's a big risk to everything.

Fighting's so stressful.

There's a time for negotiating and holding out and then there's go time.

I was just like a loose cannon. I was just wild, man. I was really just a wild, wild, strong wrestler with good boxing.

A lot of people lose to the guys that I've lost to, and they get almost like it deflates them and it sends them in a downward trajectory throughout their career.

I've been in there with the best and I've showed what I can do. Even through my losses.

The UFC doesn't make me. I make them. We make them. That's what no one understands. No one gets it.

There's guys that are better than me. Like, Kevin Lee - that was a problem I solved pretty well in 25 minutes. That guy's a tank, but there's a weakness there.

There's no one that can solve a problem within 15 minutes as good as I can.

There's no one as tough as me.

I focus on myself and I focus on getting better everyday.

I fought Khabib and I went all five rounds.

It's been documented, Doug Crosby has a long-going feud with - well, not a feud, but whatever, he hates on us, most particularly Ray Longo.

I don't really look at the rankings. That doesn't really hold too much water with me.

Paul Felder and I were supposed to fight in the past.

I thought I was going to beat 'Cowboy' and then I was going to be right up there, top-3 for a title shot. He went on to fight Tony Ferguson and I thought that was going to be me. There were different plans. I learned a lot.

My end goal in life is the spend six months of the year in Long Island and the second it gets a little too cold, I go to my future house in Australia and I spend the summer there.

I fought in Australia before against Ross Pearson, who is kind of an adopted Australian. I think he lives most of his time spent in Australia and that was a great experience for me.

I refuse nothing less than knocking out Tony Ferguson if that fight gets made. You know, as dumb as he is, maybe the smartest thing is not to fight me for him, that's for sure.

I'm focused on freaking punching people and taking them down and ground and pound and submission. That's the stuff I'm focused on, my craft.

I know Bobby Green has the potential to be a tough guy. He has some skills that are very good. He has great boxing when he wants to have great boxing. He's got great kicks when he wants to have great kicks and his wrestling is very good as well.

There's a reason I'm where I'm at. Guys like Bobby Green don't train where I'm at. They get weeded out real quick. Guys like Chris Weidman, guys like Aljamain Sterling, guys like myself, don't train where he's at, because we're way too smart for that.

I don't have the name. I'm not the former champ. I'm not this or that, but I think I'm just as tough a fighter, if not tougher.

I really enjoy selling the real estate.

There's nothing I enjoyed more than fighting. When I hurt my knee and I thought my career was over, that was a hard, hard time for me. Because I do, there's nothing I like more than fighting. But there's nothing I like more than standing up for what I think is right, and what I think I've earned.

That's the beauty of fighting sports, the fighters need to go out there without really knowing if they're winning, if they're losing, or if they have to go out there and finish.

I'd tell you one thing: if I thought I was up two rounds, and they flashed the scorecards in-between the second and third, and I found out that I was down, I might have a mental breakdown. I might jump over the cage and attack the judges.

I hit people, I've hit everybody. I had a tough time hitting him, and when I did hit him, it didn't have much of an effect on him. He's got a different style. Like, Dustin Poirier has more of a conventional boxing style. When someone is doing conventional things, you kind of know what's coming. With Khabib, it's a little different.

I would feel very disrespected as a champion if they were putting a belt on someone else in my weight class.

I train to be dominant the whole fight. But when the going gets tough, I can push through it.

There's a reason why guys don't look good against me.

I've given up on the UFC getting behind me. So I'm just getting behind myself.

It's crazy that a real estate agent on Long Island can make their show money for headlining a five-round fight against a top-six, top-seven guy in the world.

This is where I want to be: Main event, Justin Gaethje, guy is tough as nails but he's not unbeatable.

Justin Gaethje is no joke. That guy is about a round-and-a-half of hell.

A lot of people, they have families, they have kids, and they have to fight for the money. But I don't have to do that.

I would love to fight at Madison Square Garden.

I have my real-estate career. I'm set with that. So, if I want to fight, I'll fight.

I love fighting for the UFC. It's the best organization in the world with the best fighters in the world.

To get a good training camp, you've got to bring people in. You've got to pay. You've got to do this and do that. I flew people in for the Gilbert Melendez fight. He got pulled for what he got pulled for, and here I am, and they don't give me any of my show money. Nine days before the fight. Some guys get their show money, some don't.

I want everybody to be the champion that I beat.

Fighting brings out people. You can see what people are made of.

I think Kevin Lee, he's big, he's strong, he's a good wrestler. But his stand up is not there, he's stiff.

Ask Dana White about a union. He'll come with the same answer every time. 'Oh, well they can't unionize because they're independent contractors.' Right around it. Why doesn't he talk about it?

Dana White has done a lot for this sport, but he's not gotten one injury from this sport.

What I would like is to just be financially set to where, if I get hurt and I'm out for two years, I don't have to worry about teaching private lessons to pay my mortgage.

I took time out of my life to set myself up to where I don't have to suck up to anybody, and I can do it my way. And if I want to fight again, I'll fight. And if not, I'm not the guy who's kissing up to the UFC.

If you're going to cheat, you're going to get caught, I guess.

Three judges are supposed to be objective, see the fight how it is.