Mike Quintero beat both a torn hamstring, and a UFC/Bellator veteran in Jay Silva to win the heavyweight title at LXF 4 on Friday.
Burbank, CA — Three weeks ago, Mike Quintero had a partial tear of his hamstring. It nearly forced him out of his fight at LXF 4 on Friday night in Burbank. Instead, Quintero pressed on, going the distance in the main event to capture the LXF heavyweight championship.
“It was pretty bad. I couldn’t walk for two days,” Quintero told Cageside Press about the injury, following his win over Jay Silva for the title.
In the end, “I stayed faithful, I just kept training even with a f*cked up hamstring,” he said. The end result, a five round split decision against UFC, Bellator, and KSW veteran Silva.
“I definitely won that last round,” Quintero said of the outcome. “The first two were kind of close, he landed some hard shots but I’ve got a good chin, that’s one thing about me. I started sparring with monsters first, even before I had any skills at all. So I knew I could take a shot.”
“I just needed to get a little more comfortable in there,” he added. “I couldn’t kick as much as I wanted to, I didn’t wrestle well enough.”
Still, Quintero felt the judges made the right call, adding “I love those kind of fights. Those are the fun ones.”
What’s next is an interesting question when it comes to Quintero. He improved to 6-2 with the win, and has previously competed for KOTC and Bellator. But at 43-years-old, his window is quickly closing.
“I’ve got to heal up a little bit. Now that I’m older, my friggen body falls apart on me a little bit,” he admitted. “But for the most part, my mind is still strong, I love training, I love banging, so I still definitely got a few left in me.”
“I’m going to keep rolling til the wheels fall off for sure,” he finished.
Watch our full post-fight interview with Mike Quintero at LXF 4 above!
