Iaquinta Not A Fan Of ‘Cringey’ Lovefest Between McGregor And Poirier

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov recently came out and said the Dustin Poirier showed his weakness by agreeing to fight Conor McGregor at 170 pounds just because “Notorious promised to donate $500,000 to his charity.

Now, A Iaquinta is joining the mix and criticizing “Diamond” for pretty much the same thing, and then some. According to “Ragin’ Al,” Poirier has already lost the rematch to McGregor since he’s being very cordial with the Irishman, acting more like a fan than a foe.

“What is that guy doing?” Iaquinta told ESPN. (as transcribed by MMA Junkie). “What is he, Conor’s fan? He’s like a fan fighting Conor. It’s so cringey. Conor’s like, ‘I’ll fly you over, and I’ll donate my money to your charity.’ I’d be like, ‘Bro, I’ll fly my (expletive) self over and when I beat the (expletive) out of you, I’ll donate my own money. What is this? Kumbaya? Like what the hell. Are you kidding? He’s lost the fight already.”

The recent interactions between McGregor and Poirier all started when “Notorious” brought up the idea of the two men engaging in a charity bout in Ireland, with McGregor vowing to donate a good chunk of change to Dustin’s “The Good Fight” foundation.

A noble gesture indeed.

Of course, that idea was spawned shortly after Poirier had his contract issues with UFC regarding a fight with Tony Ferguson at UFC 254, and McGregor had his little media dust up with Dana White over leaked text messages. So with both men having issues with the promotion, they joined forced in what seemed like an attempt to stick it to them by staging a fight outside of the cage, though the donation of $500,000 to a good cause is a win-win for many people.

Still, all of the pleasantries between the two combatants just doesn’t sit right with Iaquinta when the endgame is to punch each other in the face for a win.

“If the fight happens, there’s not a doubt in my mind Dustin’s losing that fight. He’s already (conceded) in everything. He’s like, ‘Thank you for the fight. We’ll fight in Ireland or wherever, and thank you, we’ll fight for charity, it’ll be great.’ It’s like, dude, get out of here. This is a fight,” he added.

“What? Are you freakin’ kidding me? You’re gonna thank the guy? You think Conor is really gonna – this is for him, this is not for you, Dustin. Relax, bro.”

It’s easy to see where Iaquinta is coming from, but at the end of the day there isn’t anything wrong with seeing once bitter rivals show respect and admiration for one another prior to the rematch. Because when it’s all said and done, I really don’t think that will prompt either of them to take it easy come fight night.

Right?