LAS VEGAS – It will be nearly 20 months between fights for Billy Quarantillo, and the time off may have been worth it.
Quarantillo (18-7 MMA, 6-5 UFC) not only went under the knife, but he also made a major decision to move from the featherweight division up to lightweight. He'll get a chance to show off his new frame in the co-main event of UFC Fight Night 284 at the Meta APEX (Paramount+), when he takes on Diego Ferreira.
"I had knee surgery last year, so obviously, that takes a lot of time away, and then just focusing on rehab, doing everything right," Quarantillo told reporters at media day about his absence. "Then I decided to move up a weight class because I'm getting older, but bigger, stronger. It's been great so far keeping the size on,
but obviously, a long layoff."
The 37-year-old says he's been contemplating a switch after his most recent results, which did not go his way. He was stopped by Youssef Zalal and Cub Swanson in his last couple of appearances, but he felt he had to fight not only his human opponent but also an inanimate one: the scale. Moving forward, he's going to be focused moreso on fighting the person standing across the cage from him, and is optimistic the results will turn around.
"It's been one of those things that's been building up for the last couple of fights," Quarantillo said. "... Before the Youssef Zalal fight, I actually made weight, and I was puking the night before. Pretty much all night. As a fighter, I was like, 'Oh man, at least I lost some weight doing this.' Looking back on it, that was awful.
"The Cub Swanson fight, the last fight that I had, I made the weight, and it was a long process of making the weight. I just never got back – I never felt normal again. Even heading over to the venue, I felt like I was drained; I still felt like I was sucked out. So that was like, the decision had to be made. Like, I can't just keep doing this to my body. Fighting is brutal enough, and to keep torturing myself to make the weight – I'd rather go in there and have a slight size disadvantage than just to kill myself before the fight."
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: UFC's Billy Quarantillo explains layoff, reasons for weight class change
