Al Iaquinta Vows Not to “Melt” Like Alex Hernandez against Cerrone

Al Iaquinta will face Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone in the main event of UFC Ottawa on Saturday, May 4 from the Canadian Tire Centre in a fight which will surely inch the winner of the bout closer to title contention. This will be a welcome change for Cowboy, who fought a ranked yet still very much up-and-coming fighter in Alexander Hernandez while assuming what could be described as a gatekeeper role. Cowboy was impressive in that fight, earning the second-round TKO of Hernandez, but Al Iaquinta has reasons to believe his fight against Cerrone will look a lot different:

“I think that Cowboy’s last fight, he fought a guy who was young, hungry, but he wasn’t too experienced, and I think that showed as the fight wore on,” Iaquinta told BJPenn.com Radio. “That kid got into the second round and he melted. I think that I have that same hunger and that same drive right now on my way up, but I have the experience that he lacked. I think that’s going to be the difference in this fight, that I have both. I have that hunger, that drive, that youthfulness, and the experience is what’s going to do it for me.”

With experience being the biggest difference between himself and Alexander Hernandez, Al Iaquinta would then proceed to describe the way he does expect his scrap with Cerrone to look:

“I think it’s going to be a pretty good fight no matter how it goes,” Iaquinta said. “I’m going in there, I want to make it easy. I want to make it quick. I want to make it painless on my end. I just want to go out there and finish him in the first round. I think I have all the capabilities to do it.

“I’m also ready and prepared that he is an experienced guy, so he does hang in there. There’s been times where he’s kind of cracked, and I think that for the most part he usually hangs tough and he’s in there, unless you really put him out. But he does crack at times, and I’m looking to get on him early, make him crack”