Al Iaquinta on UFC Ottawa opponent Donald Cerrone: ‘I want to make it easy, I want to make it quick’

BLoodyelbow.com

There’s only a handful of men who’ve been able to make light work of Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone, most of them UFC championship calibre fighters.

Top-five ranked lightweight contender Al Iaquinta will look at add his name to that list when he faces Cerrone in the UFC on ESPN+ 8 main event on May 4th.

Speaking to BJPenn.com in a recent interview, ‘Raging Al’ said he has both the youth and experience to give Cerrone all kinds of problems in their headlining bout next month.

“Stylistically, I think that, like I said before, my youth and my experience is peaking both at the same time right now,” Iaquinta said. “I’m coming into my prime as far as physicality and my experience. I’ve been in there also with a bunch of the top guys. I’ve been in there with the best.

“I think that Cowboy’s last fight, he fought a guy who was young, hungry, but he wasn’t too experienced, and I think that showed as the fight wore on,” Iaquinta continued. “That kid got into the second round and he melted. I think that I have that same hunger and that same drive right now on my way up, but I have the experience that he lacked. I think that’s going to be the difference in this fight, that I have both. I have that hunger, that drive, that youthfulness, and the experience is what’s going to do it for me.”

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Riding the momentum of his upset win over Kevin Lee at UFC on FOX 31, Iaquinta is looking to make quick work of Cerrone by finishing him the first round.

“I think it’s going to be a pretty good fight no matter how it goes,” Iaquinta said. “I’m going in there, I want to make it easy. I want to make it quick. I want to make it painless on my end. I just want to go out there and finish him in the first round. I think I have all the capabilities to do it.”

Although, if the early knockout doesn’t come, the New York real estate agent plans to dominate Cerrone for five rounds and batter the MMA veteran from pillar to post.

“I’ll be content to beat on him for all five rounds,” he said. “I mean, if this fight was next week, I’d be ready to go. I’ve been training hard. I just have a great formula with my team, the guys that I train with. It’s like clockwork. It’s enjoyable to go to the gym, to be with Ray Longo, Matt Serra, Aljamain Sterling, Merab [Dvalishvili], Matt Frevola… We’ve got a bunch of upcoming guys that are in the regional circuit and around my weight that are just animals, so it’s a good time. It’s a good time in the gym and it’s a good time for this fight. Everything’s coming together. It’s going to be really good.”

UFC on ESPN+ 8, also known as UFC Fight Night 150, takes place next month, May 4 at the Canadian Tyre Centre in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.