New York native Al Iaquinta isn’t opposed to his former opponent, Jorge Masvidal facing Nate Diaz on his home turf at Madison Square Gardens. However, he doesn’t approve of the ‘BMF’ title attributed to their UFC 244 bout on the 2nd November.

“I don’t know, I think the toughest motherf*cker is the champ, the real champ,” said Al Iaquinta who feels the ‘Baddest Motherf*cker’ title undermines the real belt.

“I don’t know, it’s a little weird that they’re actually going to put a belt on somebody that’s not the champ, but those are two bad motherf*ckers, so it’s whatever. It’s not my thing, I’m more of a traditionalist, the champ is the champ. I would feel very disrespected as a champion if they were putting a belt on someone else in my weight class,” he said (via MMA Fighting.)

‘Raging Al’ had a shot at the lightweight title in 2018 against Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 223. He lost to the current champion via decision but is credited for being one of the only opponents to give ‘The Eagle’ real adversity. Prior to that, he beat Diego Sanchez and the ‘BMF’ contender, Jorge ‘Gamebred’ Masvidal. He praised his Miami opponent and believes he deserves credit, (even if he doesn’t approve of the unofficial belt.)

“He’s always been a tough guy, he’s always been tough so he’s finally getting the credit that he deserves and I think he’s found something new at 170. I think he enjoys being a little bigger and not cutting so much weight and depleting himself. It’s more like he’s just street fighting, I think that’s more his kind of thing. He gets in there, he doesn’t cut too much weight and I’m happy that he’s found a lot of success there.”

Do you agree with Al Iaquinta’s comments? Sound off in the comments below at Penn Nation!