Al Iaquinta ‘Pissed’ That He Didn’t Receive Bonus For Knocking Out Ross Pearson

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Al Iaquinta is a laid-back guy but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t feel slighted every now and again.

After coming into Sydney, Australia at UFC Fight Night 55 as the heavy underdog, Iaquinta managed to TKO Ross Pearson in the co-main event.

Iaquinta appeared on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour via Skype and to discuss the fight.

“It was definitely one of the scenarios that played out in my head,” he told host Ariel Helwani. “I’d think about the fight constantly leading up and I’d go through getting beat up for two rounds and having to come back and win…all these different scenarios, and one of them was definitely going out there and just having a flawless performance. You know, not taking too much damage, just sticking and moving, good footwork, doing everything that we game-planned and went over in practice.

“It was really just like a sparring match. One of our guys, Jonny Bonilla-Bowman, he’s got a style that’s similar, but he puts a lot more pressure on. So this was actually a little bit less stressful of a fight than going through a sparring session with that guy.”

While the fight definitely put the MMA community on notice, Iaquinta expressed some disappointment at not receiving a knockout or performance of the night bonus.

“Yeah, I was pretty pissed man,” he said. “I think any other card, a fight like that, coming in and being the underdog, getting a win the way I got it…but, it is what it is, you know?”