Conor McGregor suffered a huge loss in his Octagon return earlier this month (Sat. October 6, 2018). “The Notorious” was submitted by Khabib Nurmagomedov in the fourth round via neck crank. It marked the second loss of McGregor’s UFC career and the biggest victory of Khabib’s. Since his defeat, the Irishman has remained adamant in his desires for an immediate rematch.
Given the lopsidedness of the contest, it’s hard to make the argument that such a fight makes any sense. UFC lightweight competitor Al Iaquinta, who has shared the Octagon with Khabib, recently commented on the matter during an appearance on “The Ariel Helwani MMA Show.” Iaquinta lost a unanimous decision to Khabib for the vacant lightweight title at UFC 223 in April.
You Can’t Train Heart
He knows what it’s like to deal with the grueling grappling dominance of “The Eagle.” Iaquinta said that McGregor fought well and has a lot a lot of skills. However, he could train for a rematch as much as he wants, but the one thing he can’t train is his heart (via MMA Mania):
“He fought good, definitely has a lot of skills. The rematch is not anything he can fix. You can train to defend takedowns, you can train to get back up, train for a million things. The one thing you can not train is to have heart when shit gets real tough,” Iaquinta said.
“When you feel like you are about to die, to figure out a way to live and not have the ref pull you off and save you. That is not going to get fixed if they fight in six months or a year or three years. That is still going to be there, that is not changing.
“His teammates aren’t going to help him in there and all of that money is not going to buy heart. So he can say whatever he wants, I sell real estate, I am number 11, but at the end of the day, he is definitely not tougher than me.”
What do you think about Iaquinta’s comments regarding McGregor and his performance against Khabib?
