Las Vegas, NV — UFC Vegas 31 featherweight Billy Quantantillo enters Saturday’s showdown against Gabriel Benitez coming off the first loss of his UFC tenure.
“It was a tough loss, but I was on a nine-fight winning streak including a pro boxing match. It seemed like everything was going great, and then losing, it was a good wake-up call,” Quarantillo (15-3) said of his defeat at the hands of Gavin Tucker last December. “It was a good thing, in that it gave me a chance to look back at my other training camps and nit-pick what I was doing.”
Quarantillo has had seven months since that loss to address and correct “a lot of stuff,” he stated. And so at UFC Vegas 31, “you’re going to see a new and improved Billy Q. I can’t wait.”
The seven months were not exactly by design. Quarantillo was cornering a teammate in Abu Dhabi earlier this year. He also tied the knot in March. “I didn’t really want to be in a training camp necessarily in that time frame. So that kind of started that off. It’s a good thing to do [taking time off]. I don’t think it’s a great to rush into a fight after a loss.”
Quarantillo has also found the silver lining to the situation. “I’ve been pretty successful in the UFC so far. To be 4-1 after this fight, three finishes is what I’m going for. I’ll still be proud of that after this fight.”
This weekend, Billy Quarantillo goes up against Gabriel “Moggly’ Benitez, after a bout with Herbert Burns fell through.
“Stylistically I think they’re completely different, but for me, basically whoever the UFC gave me, I was going to fight,” Quarantillo stated. However, the excitement level has gone up a notch for Benitez. “I definitely got a little more excited for this fight, just because I think it has the potential to be a Fight of the Night. Obviously I would rather have a Performance of the Night, go out there and take him out and get the win. But I think Herbert is more of a ground specialist, wants to get the fight to the ground. Fans don’t always enjoy that as much. Where Benitez, I think I’m going to have my option, whether I want to strike with him, if I want to take it to the floor, and he’s usually pretty exciting.”
Watch the full UFC Vegas 31 media day scrum with Billy Quarantillo above. Quarantillo faces Gabriel Benitez this Saturday, July 17 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, NV.
