Featherweight Billy Quarantillo addressed the press at the official UFC Kansas City media day ahead of his co-main event …
um talk to me about this fight obviously a big opportunity for you in your career um co-main event guy like Edson Barbosa uh must be pretty exciting for you um somebody that’s probably watched Edson for a while as well yeah absolutely good to see you brother um yeah this is uh I know it’s cliche everyone’s like oh this is the biggest part of my career biggest fight in my career but this is easily uh the toughest opponent I’ve ever fought this is the biggest fight of my career this fight has the potential to do the most for my career get me to that next level get me uh even bigger names down the road that top 15 ranking uh so obviously I’m super excited about this one yeah and you’ve obviously um you know you’ve moved more forward than backward but you’ve taken some you know losses some wins uh does this is this encouraging though when you look up and you see yourself like you know next to a guy like Edson Barbosa and a co-main event slot like hey I’m moving in the right direction yeah absolutely it’s one of those things that uh after my last fight against Alex Hernandez uh I never I never Overlook anyone so I didn’t even know who it was going to be next and I remember we were talking to the media and someone mentioned Edson Barbosa and I was like oh man that’d be a great fight uh next thing you know I’m calling him out and next thing you know here we are I’m fighting him co-main event UFC big card Kansas City on a Max Holloway card who I’ve been following my whole career so uh yeah it’s just a huge opportunity and I’m gonna make the most of it any extra added like nerves or pressure fighting a guy like him I know Justin gaichi said recently like he was the only guy that he was really afraid to fight it’s definitely uh intimidating watching his highlight reel and it’s a highlight reel that I’ve watched as a fan watching him just knock people out and like cheering for that and being excited about it Edson Barbosa fight watching him kick people knee people finish people in all these different ways um I don’t know if there’s any extra you know like nervousness it’s just it’s a UFC fight it’s a huge fight for me so I think it’s it’s all kind of the same it’s all no matter who I’m stepping in there with there’s always going to be some nerves there’s gonna be some excitement and there’s obviously a huge risk um but even even a bigger risk going against Edson yeah and the leg kicks I think are something that he’s known for sometimes they show up sometimes they don’t uh did you have to make a lot of adjustments in training to kind of prepare for those yeah it’s something we’ve definitely focused on obviously he’s a very good kicker um and if you watch my Shane Burgos full he kicks me a lot so I’m assuming he’s gonna go back to that uh a big difference is though I wasn’t really expecting Burgos to leg kick me like that I was expecting more of a boxing match where we’ve uh we’re expecting everything this fight we’re expecting him to leg kick me we’re expecting him to try to wrestle with me we’re expecting everything so we’re well prepared for this fight I I’m with my same team I’ve been with since day one and uh we drew up a really good game plan for him it’s great and um where do you think a win puts you over over a guy like as in Barbosa um I think it’s going to be massive it’s gonna be a massive fight I think um I’ve talked to many people who are just casual fans that don’t really know too many names um but I mentioned Edson verbose and like oh yeah I’ve seen him I’ve seen him do this or I’ve seen him do that so I think it’s going to put my name up there with you know more mainstream with a lot more casual fans uh being the co-main event if I can go out there and get a huge finish which that’s what I’m looking to do uh it puts me into the that next level of UFC fighter where uh I always I always joke about when uh there’s like that row of like UFC fighters and they’re like they go by the the row and it’s like I know this guy this guy this guy hopefully I can get invited to that row after this fight and that’s where it puts me gotcha thanks man appreciate it brother Billy Q what’s up Alex how are you good good uh how’s Dad life oh Dad life’s great man this is uh you know I had I had my baby by myself uh all Easter Sunday when I was cutting weight and I was like oh man this is uh it’s intense man it added a whole new uh Dynamic to fight camp and it makes things a lot easier to wake up super early and train and do the extra sessions not only am I fighting a super talented legendary fighter like Barbosa but now I got a lot more on my plate now Fighters say like you know once they have a kid they have way more to fight for right like is it is is that the same feeling for you yeah yeah absolutely it becomes more of I’m not just doing this for me anymore now it’s for my family I gotta I got a a child to feed um I got you know I don’t want him to turn out like oh man like watching all these old highlight reels of his dad getting beat up and not making it big like I wanted to um and I know edson’s a father too and I’m sure that’s motivating for him I saw a clip of him talking about how his kids are motivating for him so it’s just two dads going at it and the co-main event and trying to provide for our families last week you weren’t the co-man event and I think everybody on the planet were like what the hell um and you you quickly got moved to the command events do you think that’s just uh people know this fight is amazing yeah I think well I think it’s the co-main event for a reason uh and that was really interesting because when I first signed the contract my manager told me Edson Barbosa co-main event uh you know this is that this is this and I was like all right great and then the UFC came out and they did all this uh behind the behind the scenes footage and then it came out that I wasn’t on the co-main event I think there was a mix up in there uh but the more I thought about it my the money wasn’t going to change so I was excited either way the matchup wasn’t going to get easier because I wasn’t going to be the co-main event I knew what I was in for uh so I would have been they could have put me in the first fight they know Billy Q EDS and Barbosa is going to put on a show how’s the only fans business going what’s that how’s the only thing oh yeah yeah my only fans yeah subscribe to my only fans if you guys don’t know it’s an athlete page I like to mention it’s an athlete page I’m not doing anything uh you know uh weird or anything like that it’s all just you know basically me hitting mids and me doing my uh MMA Jiu Jitsu stuff like that um what’s your prediction for the main event Max hallway versus Arnold Allen man I’ve been going back and forth with this one I’ve been a fan of Max Holloway uh as long as he’s been you know in on the big scene um so I’ve been a fan of him for a long time and I’m seeing a lot of I know he’s the favorite in this fight and I’m seeing that uh I think a lot of people are kind of counting out Arnold Allen um so I I’m not really I’m not really gonna pick but I picked Max Holloway earlier but I could see this fight really going either way and uh it’s it’s whoever shows up whoever had a better training camp which we obviously didn’t get to see uh so it’s gonna be a great fight I I think it’s gonna be closer than people think uh because Arnold Allen is a stud 10-0 in the UFC that’s that’s not easy to do thanks man appreciate man uh Billy over here then from Kansas City so just want to ask you about your initial Impressions obviously a city that hasn’t seen too many UFC events come here uh just what would you tell people to describe you know how a UFC event is for those that are trying to come probably for the first time yeah well first let me say Kansas City beautiful city we’ve been driving around and doing some sightseeing we met um a guy in the sauna the other day and he was super he’s like he’s like I’m gonna bike ted gets to the UFC I didn’t even know you guys were coming here um I will say I’m a Buffalo Bills fan so Kansas City’s our rivalry so I’m going I’m taking Josh oh Josh Allen over Mahomes all day so there’s no I won’t put that on but yeah there’s still a bit of a rivalry there and I can’t let that you know I can’t let that go uh but uh they’re gonna expect fireworks they not only are we coming to Kansas City for the first time in a while but they put a great card together this whole card stacked you got veterans like clay Guida you got Edson Barbosa’s huge name you got Billy Q who always brings the excitement and then of course the main event Max Holloway is one of the most exciting fighters in the world uh Arnold Allen is gonna become a huge name if he can get this win on Saturday so there’s a lot at stake at this UFC card so they didn’t just you know put together a random card it’s a really good card and I think the people of Kansas City are in for a treat you mentioned your form is you know kind of win loss win loss but so is uh you know Edward Edson so when you come to a fight like this is there much more there’s much more on the line in every fight but there’s a lot more in this considering both of you guys are kind of at that teetering point where it’s like this is kind of make or break at your last push here yeah I I don’t think it’s uh it’s anywhere near the last push for me I got a lot more fights in me um with Edson the thing is he he’s taken a lot more losses than me recently um but he’s also his resume speaks for itself he’s fought khabib uh Tony Ferguson Justin gagey uh you know Paul Felder his name is the names that he fought are much bigger than the names that I thought uh but it doesn’t matter on Saturday I’m gonna go in there with the confidence that I have I’m coming off a huge win I just beat Alex Hernandez who’s a very tough fighter uh he just got a win over Jim Miller so that gave me a little more confidence that you know you beat a really good guy and um I think going into this fight it’s I think every fight in the UFC feels like it’s make or break we’re only gonna have so many fights and if you start losing you’re gonna probably get cut eventually so it’s uh it’s always a make or break fight for me fighting a legend adds a little bit more pressure but I’m excited for it thanks bud thank you Billy I got a question in the back over here of course uh so who is your favorite person to punch in the face and why okay um yeah it’s an easy one It’s gotta be uh Matt the steamroller favola uh easily like my long time teammate uh I’ve been training with him for a very long time and uh he always comes out for me fight week Positive Vibes only this fight camp and uh we’re gonna go in there Saturday and handle business thank you Bill thank you guys