Al Iaquinta almost didn't return to MMA. The New York-based fighter last competed in 2019 at UFC 243, against Dan Hooker.

He has many things going for him outside of the cage, like his Real Estate business and his podcast. He didn't necessarily have to return if he didn't want to.

The UFC had also had some problems as they were announcing his fights before they were even official. Injuries also made things difficult for him to return at UFC 268 against Bobby Green.

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“I had a surgery, it was during COVID, I don’t know, maybe a year and a half ago. Took a lot longer than the doctors had anticipated for me to recover. I didn’t know what was going on, nobody knew what was going on,” Iaquinta said during this week’s UFC 268 media day (transcription via Cageside Press). “Why I was feeling the way I was feeling— but I just pushed through it. It was tough but every day just kept going. Started to feel good. I trained people in the neighborhood. Started just like moving around with some guys a little bit. For a while I’d just train them and kind of sit there and be depressed that they were training and I was pushing them and stuff. But then I started moving around with them and I was like ‘Wow, I’m actually feeling pretty good.’ I called Ray [Longo] and said ‘Ray, you want to try hitting some pads?’. So we hit pads and I felt good.”

Now Al Iaquinta is all healed up and ready to take on Bobby Green in an exciting fight at UFC 268.