Lightweights
NR | Al Iaquinta (14-6-1, 9-5 UFC) vs. NR | Bobby Green (27-12-1, 8-7-1 UFC)Long Island’s Iaquinta finally makes his Madison Square Garden debut. Iaquinta came to the UFC as a well-regarded prospect, and after falling in “The Ultimate Fighter 15” final to Michael Chiesa in 2012, “Raging Al” started his march up the lightweight ladder, with only a shocking submission loss to Mitch Clarke slowing his ascent. By the time the UFC’s New York debut rolled around in 2016, Iaquinta figured to play a prominent role as one of the promotion’s highest-profile fighters from the area, but instead, he was nowhere to be found on the card. That was due to some long-standing tensions between Iaquinta and the UFC, eventually boiling over into a contractual dispute that left him unwilling to accept a fight. Those issues continued to linger, with only a quick knockout win over Diego Sanchez breaking up Iaquinta’s holdout. The situation worked out in a surprising fashion. As UFC 223 in Brooklyn was reduced to flaming wreckage thanks to a number of issues, the final result was Iaquinta falling backwards into a lightweight title fight opposite Khabib Nurmagomedov. The undefeated Nurmagomedov still scored a clear victory, but the fight was high-profile enough that Iaquinta got some shine as a featured player going forward, winning a main event from Kevin Lee before dropping his last two fights to Donald Cerrone and Dan Hooker. It has been two years since the Hooker fight, so it will be interesting to see how Iaquinta looks as he attempts to rebound here. Green came to the UFC via Strikeforce as a well-traveled vet—despite still being in his mid-20s—and immediately went about making good on that experience, winning his first four UFC bouts to shockingly become a fringe title contender. From there, everything went south, both personally and professionally. Green’s tendency to pull out of fights, usually due to injury, became a bit of a running joke, and his performances were a combination of flat showings and robbery losses on the scorecards. That made it a pleasant surprise when Green was one of the big winners of the pandemic era of the UFC. With the promotion’s matchmaking constantly in flux, Green was healthy and willing to step in on short notice and rack up wins, scoring three victories in less than three months at one point. Thiago Moises managed to break his winning streak, but while Green did not rebound with a win against Rafael Fiziev in August, the two combined for one of the best fights of the year. Iaquinta is a technically sound boxer and wrestler who is plodding on the feet. While Green is the quicker fighter, he is not the type of long opponent that gives the New Yorker his worst trouble; on the other side, Iaquinta’s typical approach is not something that typically beats Green, who is a surprisingly sound wrestler at his core. That should lead to a lot of fun but close exchanges that really could go either way, which means this fight is likely headed to a close decision. That figures to turn out poorly for Green, as for whatever reason, his evasive defense and counter-heavy style seems to always cost him on the scorecards. The pick is Iaquinta via decision.
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