Watch: Iaquinta smashes Sanchez in 98-second KO victory
Al Iaquinta (@ALIAQUINTA) is back with a bang!! 1st RD KO of Diego Sanchez who is out COLD! #UFCNashville pic.twitter.com/InWC0xc3ZY
— Ahmar Khan (@AhmarSKhan) April 23, 2017
"Raging" Al Iaquinta is back.
In his first fight in two years, Iaquinta needed just 98 seconds to knock out Diego Sanchez in the lightweight co-main event of UFC Fight Night 108 in Nashville on Saturday.
The New York native spent a considerable amount of time on the sidelines due to a contract dispute with UFC officials, and it looked like he took all his aggression out on Sanchez. After rocking him with a short right hook, Iaquinta followed up with two more kill shots that left Sanchez limp against the cage.
With his fifth straight win, Iaquinta owns the third-best UFC lightweight streak, trailing only Khabib Nurmagomedov (7) and Tony Ferguson (9). His Octagon record improved to 8-2.
Sanchez has lost two of his last three, with both of those losses coming by way of knockout. It was just the second time he was finished by strikes in his 15-year career.