Tampa – UFC featherweight Billy Quarantillo gets to fight someone who he looked up to early in his career when he faces Cub Swanson at UFC Tampa on Saturday night.
“I was in my living room and my manager called me,” Quarantillo told reporters on Wednesday.
“He’s like, ‘are you ready?’ Like yeah dude I’m ready. He’s like ‘UFC Tampa’ but right away I was like ‘let’s go!’ and he’s like ‘Cub Swanson’ and I couldn’t believe it. My wife later described it to someone as the happiest she’s ever seen me.”
Quarantillo (18-6) has been looking up to Swanson for years and has clear memories of watching him fight.
“I was super excited. Cub’s a legend of the sport. I remember watching him before I even started training martial arts. I was at a party watching him in the WEC and I wasn’t even training MMA,” he said.
“He’s been there, done that, and it’s exciting to fight him but at the end of the day I’m going to go out there and get my hand raised.”
Lady luck has not been on Quarantillo’s side lately. He comes into the fight having gone 2-3 in his last five fights with two of those losses being finishes. It’s something he knows he needs to turn around.
“I gotta get back to that winning streak that I was on. When I got into the UFC I was on a great run, and we’ve gone back and forth. I don’t know if it’s like some mental thing that I got to overcome, but no matter what I go out there to try to win every fight,” said Quarantillo.
“Saturday night’s not going to be any different.”
Watch the entire media day scrum with Billy Quarantillo above. He takes on Cub Swason at UFC Tampa on Saturday night.
