Billy Quarantillo fights in his backyard

“His last two fights were very close against really good guys,” said Quarantillo of Swanson, who defeated Hakeem Dawodu and lost a Fight of the Night split decision to Andre Fili in his most recent fights. “So not only do I expect the best Cub we’ve seen, I know I feel the same way as we both get older. We don’t know how many games we have left and you don’t want to end up with a loss .So that’s the way I look at it. It’s in my hometown. I know he probably only has one or two games left so he will give it everything he has, and I think every fighter wants to end their career with that storybook win, that highlight reel finish.”

Quarantillo, 36, has had his share of quality strikes in his own prime since joining the roster in 2019, most notably his bonus-winning stops of Gabriel Benitez and Alexander Hernandez. Add in a loss to Shane Burgos in 2021 that would have been Fight of the Night on any card, not including a Justin Gaethje vs Michael Chandler fight, and he’s put together a solid UFC career so far. But after a March loss to Youssef Zalal, Quarantillo is looking to finish the year on the right side of the win-loss equation.

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“I don’t even want this to sound like an excuse, but the last fight we kind of rushed because my wife was due a couple of weeks after my last fight,” he said. “So going into that last fight I had a lot on my mind. I didn’t know if she was going to have the baby the week of the fight. I was in Vegas and the week before I was in the hospital with her because she had some problems. And as you know, the fighting game is a very mental game.”