Al Iaquinta: 'I'm dreaming of fighting Gilbert Melendez'
Fighters in training camp dread getting the call from UFC officials telling them that their opponent has gotten injured and pulled out of a bout. "Raging" Al Iaquinta admits to freaking out a bit when his July 15 UFC Fight Night dance partner Bobby Green dropped out, but got just as worked up - in a positive way - when they told him former title challenger Gilbert Melendez was his new opponent.
"Oh man, I was ecstatic," he recently told Submission Radio.
"I was going crazy. First, you know, going crazy in a bad way once I heard Bobby Green was out, and you don't know who you're going to get. He was an opponent ranked above me, so you know it has really good benefits to beat a guy like that."
The Serra/Longo pupil believes that though Melendez has his own reasons to feel motivated, his own eagerness for this particular matchup probably exceeds that of "El Nino.""Yeah definitely I'm young and hungry, I'm coming for it," he explained.
"I think he's been in here a while and maybe his back's against the wall coming off a couple of losses. But you know, I'm hungry. This is what I've been dreaming about. I don't think he's been dreaming about a fight with No. 13 ranked Al Iaquinta, but I've been dreaming about a matchup with a top-five guy to get me up there. So I've definitely been visualizing this moment and I've been visualizing it every way possible, and however it goes down I'm coming out with my hand raised."
Melendez, of course, just fought and lost a controversial decision to Eddie Alvarez at UFC 188, in Mexico City. Iaquinta was impressed with Gilbert's performance in some ways, but also claims to have seen some weaknesses in his game.
"I saw the fight. I think the first round I even tweeted out that I was impressed by his hands. His jab looked awesome. His jab was fast, it was long. In the first round he looked unreal," he said.
"I think the altitude might have gotten to him, or you know, I don't know what it was, but he kind of slowed down and took his foot off the gas a little bit and Eddie capitalized on it. Yeah I thought it was a great fight. I thought it was a real solid fight and it definitely gave me some ... let me see some weaknesses a little bit."
Iaquinta isn't assuming that Melendez would have conditioning problems fighting outside of Mexico City, with its high elevation and thin air supply. Though the New Yorker may not be revealing his hand, he promises that he'll find some way to beat Melendez next month at UFC Fight Night.
"The cardio thing might not be a weakness at sea level," he admitted.
"So, we're going to have to go some other routes, but we'll get the win for sure."
