Prior to his UFC return this past weekend, where he picked up an impressive first round KO win over Diego Sanchez, UFC lightweight Al Iaquinta was engaged in a very long and very public contract dispute with the UFC. The dispute was so heated that Iaquinta even went as far as to retire from MMA, and pursue a real estate career full-time.
Iaquinta and the UFC were ultimately able to reach an agreement, and ‘Raging Al’ returned to the Octagon nearly two years later at ‘UFC Fight Night: Nashville’ this past weekend. Much to his frustration, the UFC didn’t award him with a post-fight bonus despite his spectacular first round KO. This led to Iaquinta putting his bosses on blast in interviews, and on social media.
UFC welterweight Mike Perry took to social media to tell Iaquinta to “calm down lil guy”. He has since offered Sanchez some advice regarding his comments, while defending his employers.
He spoke on The MMA Hour:
“I was trying to offer this man some advice,” Perry said on The MMA Hour. “The way I put it may have seemed disrespectful, but … you think you’re going to get a bonus when you just run around disrespecting somebody who’s paying your bills, things like that?
“You work hard for this, then conduct yourself properly. He said ‘f*ck you’ to the people who are setting this up for you. If you have a sour attitude towards these people who are giving you the opportunity people dream of, you need to fix your priorities.”
“I’m watching out for the UFC,” Perry said. “He can’t just be bad-mouthing people who are doing the same thing for me. I got their back too because they got mine.”
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Mike Perry of course picked up a spectacular win of his own on the same card, where he KOd Jake Ellenberger in devastating fashion with an elbow.
This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 4/27/2017.