The Film Room: Al Iaquinta

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“Raging” Al Iaquinta will step inside the Octagon for the 14th time when he takes on hometown hero Dan Hooker in the UFC 243 co-main event on Saturday in Melbourne, Australia. Iaquinta finds himself on the rebound following the toughest loss of his career, but a win over the highly touted Hooker would put him right back in the hunt inside the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s lightweight division.

Iaquinta steps into the spotlight in this installment of The Film Room.



Before his two-year layoff, Iaquinta was 7-2 in the UFC and had become one of the smoothest counter boxers in the division. His counter-boxing style is simple but effective. He will not shock opponents with volume or anything they have not seen before, but his precise counter right, along with his impeccable timing and reading ability, makes him a matchup nightmare for anybody. This is an especially bad matchup for Hooker, who has struggled with opponents who will be in his face for all five rounds. Iaquinta mixes in single-precision strikes with counter combos. Precision counterstrikers can become predictable since they generally rely on a single power shot and fight at a more relaxed pace. Iaquinta, on the other hand, will counter with full-fledged exchanges in the pocket, along with the occasional single power shot -- a trait that makes him less predictable.



Iaquinta is at his best when pressing forward with single shots and countering with combos in the pocket, but he is smart enough to know he cannot exclusively work on the counter. Counter-only fighters can struggle when the opponent is not striking first and the lack of high-paced exchanges makes them uncomfortable in the pocket. Iaquinta is the perfect mix of knowing when to lead and when to rely on his counters. His leading attacks are just as simple as his counters, as he usually just throws 1-2s and hooks, but timing and perfection of the basics has led him to success. He also likes to invest in body shots early on to slow down opponents and to get them to drop their hands so he can attack the head. He has been throwing more head kicks lately, mainly one that can be described as a monkey kick. The monkey kick is a rhythm manipulating strike that tricks the opponent into thinking the strike is coming sooner than it is. Iaquinta will dip far to his right before swinging his left leg over the top. As his dips his upper body, opponents expect the kick and block for it, but the leg swoops over a second later than expected and lands as they are dropping their guard. This is something with which Robert Whittaker and T.J. Dillashaw have enjoyed great success, and we are starting to see it a lot more across the sport.



We have seen flashes of a competent, rang-finding jab from Iaquinta, but he does not use it nearly enough. When he works off of his jab, he likes to double up on the punch to set up the right hand. However, his jab has largely been absent of late. As a counterstriker, the jab should be a staple of his offense since he can use it to stifle the leading attacks and set up the counter right. On the lead, Iaquinta likes to throw a wild overhand right, which could land more easily if he doubled up on the jab.



Iaquinta does his best work on the counter and has become a tactical and paced striker as he ages, but he carries the “Raging Al” nickname for a reason. When he feels the finish is near, Iaquinta will blitz forward with a flurry of strikes looking for the stoppage. Something to notice during these flurries is how he stays calm enough to mix up his attack from head to toe since he knows headhunting can be dangerous and counterproductive. He also has above-average power for a lightweight: Seven of his 14 wins are by knockout, yet he has never been knocked out himself.



Iaquinta has shown a lack of defensive grappling skills while being dominated and finished on the ground in the past. However, he has also shown excellent takedown defense and scrambling ability in certain fights, so his grappling is truly hit or miss. All four of his losses have resulted from encounters with grapplers, but he did show massive improvement against Kevin Lee, as he quickly got back to his feet after being taken down three times. He was dominated on the ground by Khabib Nurmagomedov in 2018, but we cannot forget that he gave the champion his toughest fight in years while taking the bout on short notice following a year-long layoff. Luckily, Hooker is also a striker who has struggled on the ground, so it seems unlikely that we will see any grappling exchanges.



Iaquinta was on his way to proving himself as the second-best lightweight in the world, but a devastating loss to Donald Cerrone earlier this year put that to a halt. “Cowboy” picked him apart from the outside for all five rounds and landed 50 more significant strikes than Iaquinta. Each time Iaquinta tried to close the distance, he was met with a beautiful counter jab from Cerrone that kept him out of range. Hooker is long and tall for the division and knows how to work behind his jab on the lead and on the counter. If Iaquinta does not get creative with his entries into the pocket, he could meet the same fate again.