Al Iaquinta doesn't think there are many other fighters who would've made it out on the other side of what he's been through since his last UFC bout.
The veteran lightweight has been out of action since an October 2019 loss to Dan Hooker due to lingering injuries that, at one point, made him contemplate retirement.
"It's been hard," Iaquinta told theScore. "It's been a lot of frustration."
Finally healthy again, Iaquinta is set to return to the Octagon on Saturday against Bobby Green at UFC 268. It'll also mark the first time the Long Island native has competed at the world-renowned Madison Square Garden.
Iaquinta said he "couldn't explain" how difficult the past two years have been. In the summer of 2020, eight or nine months after his fight against Hooker, he underwent two separate surgeries on his knee and nose in the span of a week. From there, it took a lot longer than expected for him to recover.
Iaquinta said he'd often work out in pain, and that it'd hurt too much to do certain things during private training sessions he offered to people in his community.
"It's frustrating when you set goals and you can achieve them, but your body won't let you," Iaquinta said. "It's very frustrating."
Had he decided to retire, Iaquinta's ventures outside of mixed martial arts would've kept him afloat. He's a licensed real estate agent in Long Island, and he does other work in real estate investing. Some fighters have nothing outside of MMA, but Iaquinta is different.
Looking back, he thinks he tried to talk himself into retiring because it would've been the smart thing to do. Iaquinta is 34 years old, and it usually doesn't end well for fighters who compete well past their prime. Even his parents and sister told him he'd been through enough during his 10-plus years as a professional fighter. But at the same time, part of Iaquinta always knew he'd fight again. His passion for MMA didn't go away during his time out of the cage.
"There's a part of MMA that I'll love until the day I die," Iaquinta said. "There's a lot of it that I don't like, but it's who I am in a lot of ways."
Iaquinta, who attended physical therapy three times a week in the months after his surgeries, started feeling better a few months ago. While teaching some private lessons, he noticed that it didn't hurt to move around anymore. So, he called his coach, Ray Longo, to see if he wanted to hit some pads, and they started right where they left off.
Coincidentally, that was around the same time the UFC announced it'd return to Madison Square Garden on Nov. 6. Not long after, the promotion reached out to see if Iaquinta wanted to fight Green at the event. He said yes.
"I got to where I'm at through my own hard work," Iaquinta said. "I don't think there's another guy in the UFC that could push through what I've pushed through."
The fight against Green is a big deal, not only because it'll be Iaquinta's first bout in over two years - as well as an attempt to snap a two-fight skid and secure his first win since December 2018 - but also because it's happening at Madison Square Garden. Iaquinta was supposed to fight at the iconic venue in 2016 before a contract dispute with the UFC sidelined him until the following year.
Though he considers himself a Long Island guy through and through, Iaquinta says the bout at MSG will still be a special moment.
"For any fight sport, you want to be at The Garden," he said. "It's the center of the sports world. Every big event, every singer, every athlete, that's where you want to be. We're there. We got to MSG. It's another thing to check off the bucket list."
Of course, there was nothing stopping Iaquinta from hanging up his gloves. He's fought in the UFC since 2012, compiled a respectable 9-5 record, fought Khabib Nurmagomedov in a pay-per-view main event. He's had a good career.
The main reason Iaquinta decided to come back is that he believes there's more to show.
"There's so much that I still have left undone," Iaquinta said. "People still haven't seen everything I can do in there."
Iaquinta wasn't ready to talk about what he hopes to accomplish in this latest chapter of his career - whether he still has title aspirations or simply wants to take fun fights against other veterans. He's focused on Green. But he said he'll definitely fight again after Saturday.
Iaquinta focused a lot more on his grappling during this most recent training camp, and he said he believes he's the strongest he's ever been physically. But, perhaps more importantly, he'll enter this weekend's contest with a new mindset after managing to get past all the adversity he faced over the last two years. And Iaquinta believes that'll be evident Saturday.
"Being away from the sport put things into perspective," he said. "I cleared a lot of nonsense out of my life. I've matured. I've pushed through something that I don't think a lot of people are pushing through."
Iaquinta added: "Bobby Green is not the toughest opponent I've seen in the last two years. He's in for a tough one."