Who wins Saturday’s main event between Kevin Lee and Al Iaquinta?
Sean Covington, Columnist – Covington’s Corner
I don’t see Al Iaquinta beating Kevin Lee again. Kevin Lee seeks to avenge his loss but is he still hungry enough? I am not sure where Kevin Lee’s head is but if it is on straight he should be able to start his path to a title shot with a decision victory over Al Iaquinta. I hoping Kevin Lee has stayed hungry and wants to finish Al Iaquinta. I wanna see Lee gain more experience so that he can face Tony Ferguson again. If Lee has improved his cardio then he may be able to defeat Ferguson the second time around but first he’s gotta get past Al Iaquinta, which I think he’ll do.
Frank Hyden, Columnist – The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
I think Lee wins by submission in the 4th round. I would expect Iaquinta to come out ready to scrap but I think Lee controls the fight with takedowns and ground-and-pound. I think Lee keeps pushing and pushing and eventually locks in a submission that Iaquinta can’t fight through and has to tap. I’m expecting an exciting fight because of the guys involved.
Cole Henry, Live Event Reports
These two have fought before but it was ages ago and Kevin Lee has certainly improved quite a bit since then. Al Iaquinta has been largely inactive but his skills are solid and he should be a tough test for anybody in the division, including Lee. But taking all of that into consideration it just seems like this is Kevin Lee’s time to shine. If he can avoid the power that Al Iaquinta is known for then Lee should be able to win a decision or maybe earn a late round submission stoppage.
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Michael Hiscoe, MMATorch Managing Editor
Kevin Lee has evolved into the stronger all-around mixed martial artist since he first fought Al Iaquinta in 2014. Both have strong records since that fight, but Iaquinta has seen some periods of inactivity. Iaquinta’s impressive short-notice performance against Khabib Nurmagomedov in a losing effort is a nice feather in his cap, and should give him some confidence here, but I still expect Lee to pull of a submission towards the later rounds of the fight and reinsert himself into the lightweight title picture.
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