There is no shortage of intensity when Diego Sanchez and Al Iaquinta are locked into a cage with one another. The inaugural winner of The Ultimate Fighter and the "Raging" one have put their respective knack for going off the rails on display for years, and their paths would finally cross at UFC Fight Night 108 on Saturday night in Nashville.

While the Long Island native brought a four-fight winning streak into the tilt, he did so on the heels of a two-year layoff from competition. Contract issues with the UFC led to Iaquinta detouring off into the real estate game, but the hunger to let his hands fly once again eventually brought him back to the Octagon. The Serra-Longo product came into Nashville looking to resume his climb up the lightweight ladder, and found himself faced with a gritty veteran in Sanchez.

Yet, when the punches started flying all the heart in the world wouldn't matter as Iaquinta dusted Sanchez with the quickness.

The Jackson/Winkeljohn product came out looking to press the action but a huge right hand from Iaquinta sat him down on his backside. Sanchez scrambled to recover and got back to his feet, but it was a resurgence short lived as another right hand from the New Yorker put the TUF alum face down on the canvas.

Iaquinta jumped over the cage in celebration and it was a victory well earned.

With the win Iaquinta has now notched five-straight, but his post-fight interview further revealed the standing tension between him and the UFC. Brian Stann did his best to wrangle something positive out of Iaquinta, but the heavy-handed lightweight was having none of it.

"The quicker the UFC realizes I'm the man the better off we'll all be," Iaquinta said before plugging his real estate business and making his exit.

And therein lies the push on Iaquinta's side of the table.

Where the general assumption on his return to action was to resume his chase for something bigger in the lightweight fold, from the look of things on Saturday night that notion was partially correct. 

Iaquinta is certainly chasing something, but now it's clear that something is a bigger payday.