Al Iaquinta (photo via UFC.com)

By FCF Staff

Clearly a lot of fans at UFC Fight Night 63 didn’t agree with the two judges who handed Al Iaquinta a split decision win over Jorge Masvidal, but the lightweight contender sees it differently.

Iaquinta took some heavy punches from Masvidal early on, and it looked as though he might be finished, but the rugged fighter rallied back. By the end of the fight, Iaquinta was a bloody mess, but two judges awarded the bout to him with 29-28 scores. The other judge scored the bout 30-27 for Masvidal.

Some of the fans in attendance ferociously booed the decision, and when Iaquinta began his post-fight interview, they continued to do so. Iaquinta questioned whether they were booing him directly, and when the jeers continued, he told the crowd off.

At the post-fight press conference, here is some of what Iaquinta had to say about the tightly contested bout, and the fan’s reaction:

“I train hard everyday, and when I go in there, win or lose, I want the crowd to cheer. I feel like I showed a lot of heart. I pushed through a tough first round. That fight would have been fight of the night, but I think he took the second round off, and third round, same thing. I was chasing him, I was overextending throwing my punches because he was out of there. He coasted those last two rounds…”

Whether the judges made the right call or not, Iaquinta has now won four straight fights and has gone 7-2 in official UFC bouts to date. Prior to UFC FN 63, the New York fighter was ranked #15 in the UFC’s lightweight division.