Al Iaquinta Preparing for ‘Absolute Hell’ Against Justin Gaethje at UFC Lincoln

Fight fans rejoiced when the Ultimate Fighting Championship announced that lightweights Al Iaquinta and Justin Gaethje would lock horns at UFC Lincoln on Aug. 25.

Both men are known for their aggressive in-your-face styles and neither will be taking a backwards step once that cage door shuts. Iaquinta, who is coming off a loss to current lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov, knows he’ll have his work cut out for him in the opening rounds against Gaethje, which is when he is at his most dangerous (via MMA Fighting):

“We got a tough task ahead of us,” Iaquinta said. “Justin Gaethje is no joke. That guy is about a round-and-a-half of hell. I gotta be ready for a round-and-a-half of absolute hell, then he starts slowing down about midway through the second round. But holy sh*t, that first round. We gotta sit, we gotta talk with (coach) Ray (Longo), get a gameplan going. This is good.

“He needs time off. That’s another advantage for me. He needs a break. I’ve had a break. I’ve been on break. I’m good, you know? Took a couple weeks off after Khabib (Nurmagomedov) just to head up everything, but, I don’t know, I think it’s not a good fight for him. I don’t think it’s a good one for him. I don’t know, take a little time, take a little time to relax [your] chin. I don’t know, you need time. He needs time.”

Before signing with the UFC, Gaethje was undefeated with 17 wins and 0 losses. In his debut inside the Octagon last July, he was rocked several times by Michael Johnson before regaining his composure and securing a knockout in the second round.

In December of last year, Gaethje was handed his first ever professional MMA loss to former lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez, who knocked him out in the third round with a knee.

Then in April, Gaethje headlined a UFC on Fox event against Dustin Poirier and was finished in the fourth round via TKO. These two losses (according to Iaquinta) are a result of his fighting style finally catching up to him compounded by the fact he’s now facing very high-level opponents:

“I think [his style has] come back to haunt him more in the UFC than not,” Iaquinta said. “That’s like a coin toss of a style. You just go kamikaze, let’s go. I think I’m just more tactical, more gamplan-oriented. I just feel like, I don’t know -- I don’t know if there’s a gameplan going into his fights.

“Does his coach talk to him about a gameplan, like, ‘This is what you’re going to do?’ Because he does the same thing every fight. There’s no difference compared to the opponents he fights, so it’s just, you’ve got to make little adjustments. At this level, there has to be those little adjustments. That’s the adjustment that Eddie Alvarez made, that’s the adjustment that Dustin Poirier made. You make adjustments at this level, you’re gonna win, and you’ve got to make the right adjustments at the right time.

“He’s got to realize. And he’s not learning anything between those fights and these fights. So I’ve gotta just show that I’m on that level. I’m better than that. I’m way better than that. So I think it’s perfect. It’s a perfect fight.”