By Damon Martin

Al Iaquinta is happy to be fighting in the UFC again—at least for one night.

The UFC 223 competitor and former "The Ultimate Fighter" finalist has been at odds with the UFC for a large part of the last two years for a variety of reasons. The rift began after Iaquinta underwent knee surgery in late 2015, which was required due to a string of injuries stretching back to his stint on the reality show three years earlier.

Iaquinta went through a lengthy battle with the UFC before the company finally paid for his entire surgery after only agreeing to fund a small percentage at first.

Add to that, the New York native was banned from winning post-event bonuses for three fights after several incidents, including cursing on live television and allegedly trashing a hotel room.

The icing on the cake has been Iaquinta's public spat with the UFC over his pay. He's refused to budge on this point, even walking away entirely to focus on his real estate business when his financial demands weren't met. 

In recent months, however, fences have been mended, as Iaquinta was able to reach an agreement with the UFC on a new contract that paid him what he wanted. Now, he's set to compete in his home state of New York against Paul Felder on April 7 in Brooklyn. 

As disheartening as it's been to battle his employers to get what he feels he deserves, Iaquinta believes it's paid off for him. 

"Me pulling out of that fight [at UFC 205 in New York], asking for more money, and them not giving it to me, it all works out, 'cause now I come back, I win a fight by knockout, and kind of hold out for it," Iaquinta told FloCombat. "Now I get a little bit of a pay bump. I'm fighting in New York, and I'm fighting an opponent who I think is a great stylistic matchup for me. I'm really looking forward to it."

Iaquinta knows he's in a unique situation, as not every fighter is willing or able to fight for what they want in a contract from the UFC or from any other MMA promoter. 

Iaquinta, however, was ready to walk away from the table and move onto other endeavors if the UFC wasn't willing to meet him in the middle.

"There's really two key factors: You've got to win impressively and you've got to stick to your guns," Iaquinta said about negotiations with the UFC. "You've got to be willing to walk away. I walked away so many times that they knew that if they didn't rethink this whole thing, I was going to walk away.

"The best negotiating power is being willing to walk away and I was and they knew that. They know that I'm more valuable with them than not at all."

Iaquinta has said he's looking at his upcoming matchup against Felder as a one-fight deal. That way, he's not anticipating anything beyond what happens at UFC 223.

In a perfect world, Iaquinta would love to keep fighting because he adores the sport and he's in a much happier place when he's not spending the majority of his time at odds with his employer.

Then again, even if the UFC catered to his every demand, Iaquinta can't forget about everything that's happened in the past.

"There are some things that have been done that I don't think I'll ever get over," Iaquinta said. "I was basically sitting in a car waiting for a phone call from Dana White or Lorenzo Fertitta and I never really got one. I had a surgery scheduled and they said they were not paying for it. They were going to pay like 15 percent or 30 percent and I was going to have to come up with a lot more money, which at the time I didn't have. They kind of forgot about me. They kind of threw me to the side.

"So I'm never going to forget that. But aside from that, I'm happy with what I'm getting paid for this fight. I'm not thinking past that. Everything made sense and it's all working out. I've just got to go in there and prove that I'm worth it."