Landon Quinones got to enjoy time with his family over the holidays, but he did not get to eat. “And that pissed me off,” the lightweight told Cageside Press ahead of his next outing, at UFC Vegas 85.
Ahead of his fight with MarQuel Mederos this Saturday in Las Vegas, we asked about his arrival on the MMA map last year.
Quinones (7-2-1) landed in the spotlight as part of Team McGregor on The Ultimate Fighter 31, an experience that taught him to “embrace the emotions.” It also taught the 28-year old that “this fight game is so ever-evolving, and martial arts is such an endless journey.”
Quinones can remember fighting overseas in front of hostile crowds, being in high-pressure situations and coming back from injury. “Being in those lights, I thought I had it figured out. But one thing I learned on The Ultimate Fighter is that no matter what, every single fight’s a different fight, and you’ll never have this sh*t figured out. Every single fight I learned more about myself, I learned something whether it would be physically, mentally, spiritually, whether it was something about technique. I feel like you’ll never have this figured out.”
“So it humbled me a lot,” he continued, “not because of the challenge or the difficulty of the actual fight itself but the environment and the isolation. Being in that environment I kind of downplayed the situation.”
“I felt like fighting in the Apex with no fans, I’m going to get there, I’m going to fight, I’m going to pull up, I’m going to show out, I’m going to do my thing. But when I got in that Apex and the eerie quiet mixed with literally your opponent, it was such a hard, hostile environment to deal with. It was very uncomfortable for me. I feel like I downplayed the situation and tried to calm myself down so much, that when the fight started moving I just kind of sort of froze.”
Landon Quinones lost that fight against Nasrat Haqparast. He still finds value in the experience despite the setback, however.
“I feel like that experience was so valuable because it taught me about myself, and I understood that I don’t fight good when I’m too calm, man. I like to embrace the emotions. Enjoy the process.”
Quinones would rather “embrace the fear, embrace the emotions” he later added, “and when I do that, I fight my best.”
Watch our full interview with UFC Vegas 85’s Landon Quinones above.
