Professional MMA fighter & trainer Hollywood Joe Tussing brings you the Fight Review/Recap for the main event Khabib Nurmagomedov vs Al Iaquinta on the UFC 223 fight card on April 7, 2018.
UFC 223, Khabib Nurmagomedov and Al Iaquinta, what an outstanding fight. Khabib with the decision in five rounds, 50-43, 50-43, 50-44, but the story to me in this one is the performance by
Al Iaquinta, who was able to stop half of the take downs. Iaquinta looked outstanding stopping the single leg in the third, fourth, and fifth rounds. Iaquinta really got into Khabib’s head and kept
him on his feet a lot in this fight. When Khabib was able to get Iaquinta down in the first and second rounds, Al Iaquinta did a very good job at minimizing damage and getting himself to the cage
and getting up to his feet.
Khabib Nurmagomedov was very heavy on top, and kept pulling Iaquinta forward with some very nice single leg take downs, and one very heavy dump he got against the cage. Through it all, Al Iaquinta persevered and it looked like the only real damage that Khabib was able to do was with the jab. On the ground Khabib’s ground and pound was not super effective. I think Iaquinta is the first fighter that Khabib has not been able to trap the back arm against the cage, and throw some ground and pound. Al Iaquinta did a very good job of defending the neck when he would give up his back. He was also very good at rolling and creating some scrambles so he would be able to get back to guard and get himself to the cage.
This was just an outstanding fight. I really expected Khabib to be able to get a rear naked choke finish in this one. I didn’t see him TKOing Iaquinta, but Al Iaquinta with the few strokes that he was able to land, did put some nice hands on Khabib. He didn’t really rock Khabib too much although it did look like he stumbled him a bit with one overhand, but other than that he did keep Khabib guessing. Iaquinta was able to stop a lot of those take downs. This was really an amazing fight from Al Iaquinta and I’m super excited to watch this guy fight again. Hopefully this fight will have given him some confidence. I’m also excited to see what a fighter with more strength and a wrestling background, who can take Iaquinta’s approach, can do against Khabib Nurmagomedov. This was a very methodical approach for a fight that got put together in one day. Al Iaquinta’s game plan was outstanding for this fight and I really thought there was a chance he might catch Khabib with something after the second round.
The third round was very entertaining and enjoyable watching the guys talk back and forth. Khabib did very good work with his jab but didn’t follow it up too much. He really didn’t do any damage and he never rally rocked Al Iaquinta on his feet. It was pretty much just the control and the jab that won Khabib this fight. Outstanding fights overall, this was one of the best UFC cards in a while, just a great main and co main events. Congradulations to the eagle – Nurmagomedov , and very good fights from Al Iaquinta and Thug Rose. I’m looking forward to the next one.
Additional Fight Reviews/Recaps from UFC 223:
UFC 223 | Thug Rose Namajunas vs Joanna Jedrzejczyk Fight Recap
UFC 223 Zabit Magomedsharipov vs Kyle Bochniak
UFC 223 Joe Lauzon vs Chris Gruetzemacher
