Billy Quarantillo is pumped to fight Edson Barboza in the co-main event of UFC Kansas City.
After Quarantillo scored a TKO win over Alexander Hernandez back in December, he called out Barboza to be his next opponent. Although the callout garnered a lot of interest from fight fans, he wasn’t sure if the Brazilian veteran would actually accept. But when he found out that the fight was set, he was absolutely pumped.
“I called him out and he was commenting emojis on pages and then his manager reached out to me and said we like this, let’s do it,” Quarantillo said on Just Scrap Radio on BJPENN.com. “My manager hit me up and said they are for real about it. It was almost like a surreal feeling because I have been watching since probably the Terry Etim fight back in like 2012 when I wasn’t even a pro fighter yet. I wasn’t a pro fighter yet and he was cleanly knocking people out in the UFC. He’s a legend of the sport and it’s kind of crazy how paths collide sometimes. It’s taken me this long to finally get to his spot and he’s still ranked in the featherweight division, he’s fought the who’s who of the UFC, and now it’s my turn.”
Once the fight was made, Quarantillo knew he had to worry about Barboza’s powerful kicks. Billy previously had his legs chopped down by Shane Burgos, but says he never expected ‘The Hurricane’ to attack his legs, so he feels more prepared this time around at UFC Kansas City.
“I have been having people chop at my leg. I know a lot of people are going to say that Shane Burgos chopped my legs up so Barboza will do the same,” Quarantillo said. “The biggest difference was that I wasn’t expecting that from Burgos. I thought he was going to box with me more and by the time I realized he was kicking my legs it was too late. I’m going into this fight knowing he is trying to chop my leg up. I can plan for it, at least. I have a lot of different counters for it and ways to avoid them or check them and it’s nothing new to me.”
Not only is Billy Quarantillo confident he can handle Barboza’s leg kicks, but he believes his cardio and pace is the key to success. He knows Barboza cuts a lot of weight to make 145lbs, so if Quarantillo can extend the scrap, he knows he can have success.
“It’s no secret, that’s my goal, I’m trying to wear you out and make you make mistakes,” Quarantillo said. “I’m going to pressure them, even if I lose the first round, you have 10 more minutes and I’m going to stay in your face, and I’ve been fighting at featherweight for 10 years now and my body is used to it.”
Although Billy Quarantillo is planning to extend the fight, he doesn’t expect it to go the distance. Instead, he believes he has all the tools to finish Edson Barboza at UFC Kansas City and hopes for a viral KO.
“The film is out there, there are more videos of him getting finished than me getting finished. Obviously, the names are a lot bigger, Justin Gaethje, and Giga Chikadze. He has been finished before, no man is unstoppable,” Quarantillo said. “In every fight that I have, is my goal to go in there and finish him. That is what my game plan is to go out there and get a stoppage. That is what is going to get me to the next level in the UFC. I’m not going in there to milk out a decision… I’m hoping to get a big finish, a big knockout, and something that can go viral and finally get a big more recognition.”
If Quarantillo does get the viral KO he is after, he says he has a name in mind and is ready to start working his way up the featherweight ranks.
“If and when I go out there and get a huge finish over Edson Barboza, I already have another name ready,” Quarantillo concluded.
Do you think Billy Quarantillo will finish Edson Barboza at UFC Kansas City?
